A Change with No Regrets
by Wolfgrowl
Summary: (Canon divergent) In 843 Eren Jaeger killed two men to save Mikasa before the third arrived and kidnapped him. After two weeks of being dragged around, bought and sold, Eren winds up in the capital, in a place called the Underground, where he catches the eyes of a group of thugs. Isabel has a soft spot for strays, so she convinces Farlan and Levi to rescue the small boy.
1. Chapter 1

Hmm...

Alright, welcome to my fanfiction. Things to know about this universe.

Eren rescued Mikasa in 843, a year ahead of canon but some details changed.

Thank you for reading and if you see any errors or anything you love, please feel free to let me know!

* * *

_Eren met her eyes as he struggled, his scarf sliding off his neck as he clawed at the hands around his neck, "fight."_

_But before she could follow his instructions, save her savior the man moved, running out of the room, leaving Mikasa alone in the room with the bodies and all that was left of her savior was the bloody knife and a red scarf._

A small sob pulled her out of her thoughts, if only she had done something, she looked up at the woman who had taken her in. Mrs. Jaeger raised a hand to her mouth and shook.

Mikasa tightened the scarf around her neck, she'd picked it up and the Jaegers had said she could keep it.

She wished Eren could've been the one to give it to her.

A knock at the door made Mikasa stiffen, fingers twitching in alarm. She glanced around quickly in search of something to defend herself with.

Mrs. Jaeger opened the door and Mikasa stood up.

This allowed her to see the small boy, with blond hair and wide blue eyes, who stared at her in alarm.

"Oh, Armin." Even Mikasa knew when someone spoke to you like that something was wrong. It wasn't surprising he now looked terrified.

The boy looked up at Mrs. Jaeger, "hello, umm… where is Eren?"

Once more Mrs. Jaeger made that sobbing noise, "come inside Armin," she gently ushered him in, he stopped when he saw her, "Mikasa, this is Armin, he was Eren's friend."

Mikasa nodded once, and sat down again. Armin sat down next to her, and looked at Mrs. Jaeger in concern, "what happened?"

Mikasa sat in silence as Armin was informed that his best friend was gone, likely never to be seen again.

Mrs. Jaeger had to leave, Armin sat at the table, tears dripping onto the wood.

"I… I'm sorry."

Armin shook his head, "no, that was just like Eren. He wouldn't want you to be sorry."

Mikasa watched as Armin struggled to pull himself together, "what was Eren like?"

"Loud," was the boy's response, "if he was into something he was passionate about it."

Mikasa almost smiled, "tell me more about him, please."

Armin nodded, his blue eyes still red from crying, "sure. Come on, we can sit outside," he glanced the way Mrs. Jeager had gone, and Mikasa understood. She hesitated though, and Armin offered her a small smile, "we'll just sit on the front steps." He offered her his hand.

The last time she'd hesitated, bad things had happened. She accepted his hand and followed him out the door, to where the stone steps.

Mikasa wasn't sure how long they sat there and talked, but the shadows changed direction and length as they did.

Armin had even laughed at a few of the stories he'd told about Eren.

Armin had just finished one such story when he added, "and Eren wanted to see the ocean too." His eyes widened and he covered his mouth.

Mikasa turned to look at him, "what's the ocean?"

Armin shook his head, but she continued to stare at him, "Armin, what's the ocean?"

"It's an endless expanse of water, it's blue, blue-green and white, it tastes of salt," he whispered, "but it's outside the walls. Eren and I… we were going to see it someday."

Mikasa reached over and rested her hand on Armin's shoulder, "I swear I will get you to the ocean."

Armin looked over at her, "you don't have to-"

Mikasa's stare cut him off and he nodded instead. She would get him to the ocean, that's how she would make up her failure to Eren. Because of her he wasn't here to get Armin to the ocean. So she would in his place. She would show Armin the world outside the walls.

* * *

Levi looked up when Isabel made a small noise. He and Farlan followed her gaze across the street to where a group of people where herding a small boy into a building. Levi briefly made eye contact with the kid before he was shoved out of sight.

Levi glanced over at Isabel, "what have I told you about strays?" Not that she listened to him, still feeding every cat and dog she could.

"Well he's hardly a cat, big brother, and did you see how small he was?"

"Wasn't much bigger than a cat," Farlan commented, sharing a look with Levi. They knew why they had the boy, a boy like that with pretty eyes. A bad fate awaited him.

Levi sighed, and glared at Isabel, "you are training him. Don't make me regret this." With that he stalked across the street, his two comrades trailing behind him, one almost bouncing with excitement, the other resigned.

After a short debate about why they wanted the boy and why it would be wise to simply hand him over, and a discussion of money, Levi led the now larger group back to the hide out. Fortunately violence hadn't been needed.

The boy had been silent the whole time, even after Isabel had removed the gag from his mouth. His odd colored eyes, blue or green it was hard to tell in the light of the Underground, were dimmed slightly but there was a bit of fire there.

Levi removed the shackles from the boy's wrist now that they were safe and he had time to pick the locks, "alright Isabel, I told you, you have to housebreak the brat."

"Do we have anything to feed him?" she asked, looking around, "and don't call him a brat Levi."

"Well what else should I call him?"

Isabel whirled around to face the boy, "yeah, I'm Isabel, and the quiet one is Farlan. And that's my big brother Levi. Don't let him fool you, he's not too mean."

Levi snorted and leaned back in his chair, as the kid looked at them.

"I'm Eren. Eren Jaeger," he rubbed at his wrist slightly, before crossing his arms in front of him.

Isabel smiled at him, "alright Eren, where are you from?"

"What do you want with me?"

Farlan crouched down, "we aren't going to hurt you Eren. I promise."

Eren eyed him warily, Levi couldn't blame him, and actually admired the kid's silence.

"Give him some food first, see if that doesn't make him talk."

"You aren't going to complain about us feeding him?"

"When he's so thin I could use him as a walking stick?"

"You need one old man."

Levi's mouth twitched as Isabel's comment, and let it pass. He had a point about the kid though, the ripped shirt the kid was wearing only emphasized how thin he was with how it hung from his shoulders, and his hair was long and greasy. It hung past his ears and around his neck.

Eren took a seat, and stared at the table in silence while Isabel found him some food.

He sure ate like someone from the Underground, that was for sure. Levi waited for him to finish, though that obviously wasn't going to take long.

"Don't make yourself sick," Farlan cautioned, and Eren slowed down, slightly.

When he was finished Levi threw a cloth at him to wipe his face with.

"Thank you," the kid whispered, still staring at the table.

Levi nodded once, "now, where are you from?" Maybe they could get the kid back to his parents.

"Shingashina."

Or maybe not.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, I'm surprised at the feedback. This is great, thank you all so much, if you reviewed, favorited or alerted.

Updates will be slow. I do apologize for that.

* * *

"No, turn your body like this, don't give your opponents any place to hit you."

"I see you've taken to babysitting duty."

Farlan rolled his eyes, "kid's a quick learner, once I figured out his mistakes."

Eren looked down, "no I'm not. Armin was the smart one. I wouldn't call me smart."

"Anyone ever teach you how to take a compliment?" Isabel had followed Levi into the house, and went over to Eren, and ruffled his hair the way Levi occasionally ruffled hers, "say thank you."

"Thank you, Farlan."

Farlan smiled, "I mean it. Now balance your weight, don't lock your legs."

"But I don't want them to push me aside."

"So be able to dodge, and you can't if you've planted yourself," Farlan nudged Eren lightly until the boy relaxed his stance so he was loose.

"Better," Levi chimed in, sitting down in a chair to watch Farlan train the boy, "if you're loose you're faster."

Eren nodded and glanced up at Farlan.

Farlan moved so he was facing Eren, "we're not going to spar in here because Levi would have a fit if we got things dirty."

Levi huffed, but it made Eren smile briefly, so he took it.

Farlan was focused on Eren, "we'll just talk about certain moves and how to defend yourself."

Eren looked up at Farlan, "but if you defeat your opponent before they can hurt you, you wouldn't need to defend yourself."

"That isn't going to happen. Listen to Farlan," Levi ordered, he glanced at Isabel out of the corner of his eye as she took a seat across the table from him.

Farlan waited for Eren to face him, "I'm not teaching you how to dodge, I'm going to teach you about defending and deflecting."

"Much better than blocking," Levi muttered, Eren glanced at him then back at Farlan.

Farlan taught Eren how to deflect punches, and had him do it several times.

"What's the point of deflecting, why not just block?" Eren looked at Levi for this question, "what makes deflecting better."

Levi got up, "watch." He took a stance facing Farlan, who turned to him.

"Just basic punches, like what you were doing with the brat."

"I'm not a brat!"

"You whine like one."

"Stop being mean, Levi."

"Don't worry, Farlan will try and hit me for it."

Farlan swung at Levi who deflected, one, two, three blows before he swung his elbow to catch Farlan in the temple. He didn't put much force behind it, he didn't need to knock Farlan unconscious.

Eren's eyes widened from blue-green puddles to ponds, "oh!"

Levi released Farlan's wrist, "like that."

"Why'd you elbow him?"

"There's more room to swing your elbow, which allows you to use more force. And you hit someone in the temple hard enough the bastard'll go down."

"Levi! He's just a kid!"

"So he's got plenty of time to learn," he replied dryly, retaking his seat. He wasn't going to watch his language.

Farlan nodded and continued Levi's earlier comment, "or it will hurt, so that's why Levi went easy on me."

Eren looked back and forth, and Levi could tell he was memorizing this, "got it."

"Good. I'll have you start training with one of us in the alley regularly, should help you," Levi signaled to Farlan, "let's get dinner ready."

"Then go clean, you're dangerous in the kitchen."

"Big brother is always dangerous."

Levi's mouth twitched in what could almost be a smile at Isabel, "Eren, why don't you help Isabel. I'll go see what you and Farlan made dirty."

Eren glared at Levi, "nothing!"

"Of course," Levi headed out of the room, leaving Eren to help Isabel get dinner started. He didn't go far, and waited.

Farlan joined him in only a few seconds, "I thought it would be for the kid to keep his mind off things. He was too quiet all morning. I think he's trying to accept that he's not going home."

Levi leaned his head back against the wall, "what the hell do you want? We can't leave long enough to get him back, ignoring how hard it would be to get past the damn checkpoints."

Farlan shook his head, "I know that. And he's coming to understand that, once he also realized what we do for a living."

Levi scoffed, "don't tell me he thought we rescued dumb shits like him all the time."

Farlan gave Levi a look, "he's not stupid,"

Levi let the comment pass, and Farlan added, "he didn't realize just how deep in the… how involved we are."

Levi crossed his arms as he thought it over, "He seems to have taken to you and Isabel."

"Maybe because we don't call him a dumb shit. And his room is clean, I checked."

Levi nodded, so Farlan backed off, heading back to help with dinner. It wouldn't be much, it never was, but it would be enough for all four of them.

It sounded like they were laughing so he wandered back in. After he checked Eren's room for himself, just to make sure it met his standards of clean.

"I'm impressed brat. I thought you'd make a mess."

Eren glanced over at him, "I don't have much to make a mess with."

That was true. They'd given him one of Levi's old shirts, and even that was big on him. They'd have to see about getting him some clothes. Some boots for sure.

Levi supervised the making of dinner, occasionally commenting or cleaning up behind them, until it was time to eat.

Eren ate like a starved dog, barely bothering with utensils, Levi thinned his lips as he watched the boy eat.

Isabel chuckled, "you're going to give big brother a heart attack."

Eren paused and swallowed, "sorry."

Well it wasn't like Levi hadn't eaten everything in front of him, "no, you're hungry, and down here. Eat anything in front of you." He left 'before someone else steals it' unsaid, none of them were going to steal Eren's food and the boy would figure the rest out of his own in due time, "Isabel likes giving me trouble. All of you do I think."

Isabel stuck out her tongue which made Eren smile.

"How'd you learn to cook?" Farlan asked Eren, "we didn't have to teach you anything. I think I learned a few things."

Eren grinned and looked down, Levi thought the small boy was blushing, "my mother would have me help her cook. And do other chores." Levi held his breath, in case the boy started crying.

Eren's eyes looked wet, but he didn't cry, "my dad was a doctor, so I was usually at home with my mom. She taught me a lot. My dad taught me about plants though, and how treat things."

Levi's eyebrows rose, "oh?"

Eren nodded, "I memorized plants and what they treat. I know how to sew a wound closed too."

"Look at that, he's more useful than I thought," he nodded to Isabel, while Eren glared at him.

Isabel leaned over, "if you can, kick him under the table."

"Don't encourage him!"

"You do it to me all the time!"

Levi let the two squabble, it was good for them.

Eren finished his food and stacked his dishes on his plate.

"Farlan told me you found out we are criminals."

Eren looked up at Levi and nodded silently.

Levi narrowed his eyes, "you understand, we do what we have to in order to live. Not all of us can live in houses up above."

Eren clenched his fist, "everyone should fight to live, it's not living if you don't have to fight for it. It's simply existing. And being up there doesn't change anything, they simply exist in large cages!" Eren looked up at Levi, his eyes blazed in blue-green, possibly bits of gold, flames, "that's no life!"

Levi slowly smiled, a small one, just the corner of his mouth pulled up, "not bad brat, not bad. You've got spirit."

Eren met Levi's gaze, "I want to join the Survey Corps, and fight for humanity. We shouldn't stay behind these walls."

"You'll be killed that way."

"Everyone dies. I want to at least say I've lived outside these walls. I want to see what's out there. I want to see the ocean!"

"What's the ocean?" Isabel spoke up, before Levi could prompt another speech from Eren.

"It's this huge expanse of water. My friend Armin had this book about the land out there."

Levi glanced at Farlan, seems the kid had already been a bit of a criminal before this.

Eren hunched his shoulders, "we were going to see the ocean together. And the lands of ice and fire."

Levi leaned forward, "it's not a bad dream brat."

"It's more than a dream. We were going to do it! I'll join the Survey Corps and see the ocean!"

Levi waited a moment to let Eren settle, "I believe you, you're the kind of idiot who could do that."

Eren raised his head, eyes still filled with passion, Levi leaned back in his chair, "tell us about this ocean."

/

Levi lay on his back, looking up at the ceiling above him. Dinner had been interesting to say the least. Between discovering things about their newest recruit to the ocean, Levi had a lot to think about. There was no doubt the kid was overflowing with passion though, and this had been the most alive Levi had seen him. Including when they bathed him and he had objected vigorously to Levi coming in and scrubbing him clean. Which Levi had threatened to do after Eren had come out for a third time not nearly clean enough.

The house was quiet, so of course he heard Eren's noises, and sat up, waiting to see what happened.

The noises got louder, until Levi got out of bed and headed over to the boy's room.

Eren was twisting around under his covers, and was still getting louder. It was only a matter of time before he started screaming.

Levi shook him a few times, "oi, brat!"

Eren's eyes snapped open and he sat up, his fists swinging at Levi.

Levi caught his wrists, "stop it Eren."

Eren stared at him, his whole body heaved with each breath, eyes wide with fear and anger.

He relaxed when he recognized Levi, and went limp, "sorry."

"I wasn't asleep and you didn't hurt me. Nothing to apologize for. Someone needs to teach you these things brat."

Eren didn't respond, Levi moved so he was facing the boy, "do you want to talk about it?"

Eren shook his head, "I was just remembering… things."

Levi nodded, "well, my bed's rather big."

Eren looked at him, Levi shrugged, "if you'd want to sleep somewhere else tonight."

Eren nodded once, "really?"

"I may be mean but I'm not that cruel brat. If I offer I mean it," Levi got up, leaving Eren to stay or follow him.

Eren's footsteps were soft as he followed Levi to his bedroom.

Levi got into bed as though an eight year-old wasn't going to join him, even as Eren did.

He let Eren snuggle up against his back, "sleep well this time, brat."

"Good night, Levi."

Levi waited several minutes after the boy's breathing had become regular to try to sleep himself.

/

The next morning Levi was immediately aware there were more than two people in his bed.

Eren was curled up against his chest, and at some point he'd wrapped one arm around the kid. Isabel was facing him, trapping Eren in between them. He could feel Farlan behind him, sleeping back to back.

"And who invited you two?"

They woke easily, and Eren stirred, though obviously wasn't fully awake.

"Hmm?" Isabel muttered, her red hair untamed after a night of sleep.

"I said who invited you two into my bed?" Levi ignored the fact he still had one arm around Eren, even as the kid shifted around.

"You mean that wasn't an open invitation?"

Levi shoved backwards to push Farlan out of the bed onto the floor with a thud.

Isabel sat up to look over Levi, who felt the bed dip as Farlan climbed back on.

He folded his arms on Levi's side and looked down at Eren, "so, what's for breakfast?" His blond hair stuck out in all directions.

Levi released Eren to sit up, pushing Farlan off him, "you're making breakfast this time."

He hoped this wasn't going to be a regular occurrence, but given his life, it probably would be.


	3. Chapter 3

Eren flinched slightly as he tugged on the thread.

Farlan watched him as he continued to sew the wound closed, he was actually flinching less than Eren was and it was his arm that had been sliced open. He'd slipped while sparring with Eren and cut his arm on some metal.

"You're good at this."

"My dad taught me," Eren murmured, "when he wasn't busy. I usually used it to help my mom fix clothing but sometimes, if the patient let me, I could practice."

Farlan kept his arm still as Eren finished, "well thank you. You saved me a lot of trouble."

Eren put the needle down to look at his work, "we should put a bandage on that, to make sure it says clean. And if it starts itching that's normal."

"Yes, doctor."

Eren gave Farlan a look, "I'm serious."

Farlan smiled at him, "so am I. You've probably saved me from a bad infection and all sorts of other problems. So, thank you."

Eren shoved his bangs out of his eyes, "okay. You're welcome."

Farlan signaled for him to come over and pulled him onto his lap, "you should think about getting your hair cut or we could tie it back."

Eren turned to look up at Farlan, "can we just tie it back for now?"

"Sure. If you like it, we'll leave it, otherwise Levi can cut it."

Eren felt Farlan pull gently on his hair, and then it tickled the back of his neck.

"Why did you have a hair band?"

"Isabel loses hers occasionally so it's good to have a spare or two," Farlan answered, "how's that feel?"

"Better!"

"Good, and Levi should be happy, you look less like a shaggy haired stray."

Eren giggled, "I thought I was a shaggy haired stray."

"Yes, well now you don't look quite so much like one."

Eren smiled back at Farlan, "sorry you got hurt."

Farlan tugged on his new ponytail, "don't be, it was an accident. And it won't stop our training, before you worry about that."

Eren sat up, "but shouldn't you rest it?"

Farlan shrugged, "eh, I can still show you how to do different moves. But since you make such a good point, how about you go do your laundry. I think you fell behind…"

Eren grinned sheepishly. He'd really hoped they hadn't noticed, because Levi got upset if Eren didn't do his laundry regularly.

He hopped down and Farlan stood up.

"I'll help you," he promised, "now go get your laundry!"

Eren scampered off, grinning as went and grateful his hair no longer got in his face.

/

Isabel pulled Eren close to her, he glanced up at her and looked over the street.

"Now, you want to watch people," she explained, he nodded as he listened.

"You want people who aren't paying too much attention, the best are those who are talking, because they're paying more attention to that then their wallets. You also want to make sure the Military Police aren't around. They shouldn't be, it's not often they come down here and get dirty. They're as bad as Levi about that."

Eren smiled at that, "right. So… Are you actually going to have me…?"

Isabel ruffled his hair, "so eager little brother? No, I'll have you practice on Farlan and Levi before I make you do it for real. But this is good practice for when I finally do have you do this."

Eren nodded eagerly, he wasn't eager to steal but he did need to start earning his living, he knew it cost them money to feed him and take care of him. It also cost them money to buy him, or so he thought. He scuffed his new boots at the thought, he'd outgrown his other pair.

"Hey, something wrong Eren?"

He shook his head, and hugged Isabel, "I'm just grateful for all you do for me."

She hugged him back, "aww… but of course, you're one of us."

Eren finally pulled back, he loved when Isabel hugged him, it made him feel at home.

She ruffled his hair, he'd kept the ponytail and they just trimmed his bangs to keep them out of his eyes, "now, back to our lesson."

"Right!"

"And once you get good at this and using a knife, big brother says he'll teach you how to use 3DMG."

Eren's mouth fell open and he turned to Isabel, "really?" He had watched them fly off enviously for so long, wishing he could use them too, that he could be closer to being in the Survey Corps, a dream the other three had oddly encouraged, even though Isabel fussed over him when he brought it up.

"Yeah. He says you need to know if you're going to see that ocean of yours. He said maybe if we trained you enough you wouldn't get yourself killed."

Eren huffed, "I won't get killed."

"I hope not," Isabel's smile seemed forced, but she ruffled his hair again.

/

Eren saw Levi glance at him out of the corner of his eye, "you can go to bed."

He shook his head, and rubbed at his eyes with the hand that didn't have a cleaning cloth, "I want to help you." He was really tired though.

"You should get some sleep though, after today's training," Levi turned fully to face the boy, "you're better than expected."

Eren grinned at that, understanding what Levi meant, "thank you! I really owe it to Farlan though, he taught me so much about hand to hand."

Levi gave him a stern look, "I mean it. You understand and when you don't you work at it until you do. That's what separates you from idiots."

Eren straightened up and beamed as Levi signaled for him to continue to follow.

They made their way through the house, occasionally stopping to clean, Eren was yawning more and more though and he really hoped Levi didn't notice.

"Alright brat, one last room and then you have to go to bed."

Eren whined, but Levi fixed him with a look, and he fell silent, "good."

"Yes, Levi," Eren yawned again despite himself.

Levi didn't look at him, just made his way into the room, the knot keeping the white bandana on his head hadn't even slipped at all, unlike Eren's clumsy knot. Levi had scolded him as he'd tied it for him, but it wasn't a serious one. Not like the time he'd walked away and they'd lost sight of him. That lecture had gone on for so long, while Isabel had held him and Farlan had looked either angry or relieved.

"Oi, brat."

"Sorry Levi!"

"No, stay back. This barrel is leaking and has soaked straight through the floor."

Eren nodded and went to make sure mold hadn't begun to grow on the walls.

There was a loud crack and he spun around to see Levi and the leaking barrel disappear from sight followed by a crash and Isabel screaming.

Eren dropped his rag and ran over, peering down the hole at Levi.

Levi stood in the wreckage of the barrel and whatever had been in it, "hey, what the hell is going on?"

Farlan burst in, "what happened, what is it?"

"It talked! The monster, it's talking!"

Eren saw Levi move and then Isabel was running, from the angered leader.

He started giggling, and Farlan looked up the hole to see him, and they both started laughing, even as Levi continued to chase Isabel around the room, "who are you calling a monster?"

/

Eren grinned as he clung to Farlan's shoulders, he now towered (or so he liked to believe) above Levi and Isabel.

Farlan had taken to giving him rides when they wandered through the Underground, when they took Eren they always walked.

Soon though they'd be able to use the 3DMG, or so Eren hoped. They'd already begun training him to use it. It was harder than he'd expected though even Levi was patient with him.

His chest hurt from where the straps rubbed though, and he wished he had something to ease that.

Farlan bounced slightly and Eren yelped and quickly tightened his grip on Farlan's shirt.

Levi's mouth quirked up and Isabel giggled.

"Looking forward to dinner?" she asked, "you're being quiet, Eren."

"Yeah, I'm hungry," Eren leaned forward slightly, and scanned the street. He looked for marks the way Isabel had taught him, and felt the knife strapped to his wrist.

That had been a gift from Levi and Farlan, and Eren was extremely proud of it and made sure to keep it clean and sharp.

When they reached the bar Farlan crouched down to let Eren hop off, and the four entered.

They took their usual table, with a small amount of pushing and shoving, and ended up with Eren sitting between Levi and Isabel, with Farlan on Isabel's other side.

Levi rested is arm behind Eren, it was their usual way of seating.

Eren sat carefully, trying to mimic Levi. The gang leader's mouth twitched and he ruffled Eren's hair.

"Your bangs need a trim again."

"Yes, Levi."

"I'm glad to see you're washing though, I'd rather not stick my hand in grease."

Eren nodded, of course he washed, he knew how Levi was about cleaning and wouldn't put it past him to drag Eren into the tub and scrub him if Eren ever got dirty enough. It was a funny image if it wasn't so terrifying.

Their food arrived and Eren ate quickly, but with utensils.

Farlan and Isabel were bickering over something, Eren looked over as Isabel almost stood up.

"That is not what happened!"

"Well it certainly looked like that's what happened."

"Sit down," Levi muttered, "the brat's got better manners than you."

"Not a brat."

"Yes, you are brat."

"Am not."

"I will not play this with you."

"Am not!"

Levi shoved his back, causing Eren to lean forward.

"Still a kid though."

Eren kicked at Farlan's legs, Isabel quickly moved out of their way.

"I take it back, he's as bad as you two."

Eren whined with the other two, but Levi remained stoic.

"Keep this up I'll think you aren't ready to really begin your training."

Eren stopped fighting with Farlan then, which made Isabel giggle. They knew how badly he wanted to learn to use the gear, to fly like a member of the Survey Corps. To finally keep up with them rather than tag along behind.

Levi nodded, "good."

Eren smiled and finished his dinner, if he left the food too long Isabel was liable to steal it.

"We'll have you earn your keep soon."

Eren stopped in the middle of a bite, Levi rolled his eyes, "your pickpocketing only brings in so much. It's enough for now."

"I'll work really hard."

"You'd better, I'm not spending my time teaching someone who doesn't try."

Eren smiled at Levi, understanding what Levi meant.

"Thank you."

"Just eat your food."

* * *

So, who else is really excited over the OVA? The trailer looks gorgeous and it was great to see Farlan and Isabel animated!


	4. Chapter 4

Eren lifted the laundry basket and fought the urge to wipe his forehead on his shirt sleeve. Somehow, Levi would know.

It had been a bit of an adjustment when they'd decided he was old enough to be left at home alone. He'd almost stabbed Levi once when he'd come back and Eren had been terrified. That had been an interesting experience.

Eren set his clothes down and began to fold them quickly but efficiently, Levi had a habit of checking his closet to make sure it was orderly.

The house felt empty without the other three but Eren had slowly adjusted to it. And no longer tried to kill them when they came home, even if Levi was glad to see he'd been putting those hand to hand lessons to good use.

Eren's face grew warm as he remembered the fights against Levi, and not just because he'd lost. It had been embarrassing how frightened he'd gotten, as if those traffickers would be coming back for him. But there were bad people down here.

It helped when Levi pointed out if anyone touched Eren they would be crossing Levi. And Eren knew what happened to people who crossed Levi, like the time Isabel had come back to the hideout missing a pig tail. Eren wasn't sure he'd wanted Levi to answer Farlan when he'd asked if Levi had killed them.

Once Eren's clothes were put away (as was the basket) he took up a fighting stance.

He went through a series of punches, blocks, deflects and swings. When he'd finished that he stretched and looked at his room. He supposed he could clean it again, but it seemed fairly clean.

He had a prickle of doubt though, what if Levi made him clean his room instead of… No. Levi had promised him that if he behaved he would train him. There was nothing to worry about.

Eren dropped his arm so that his knife slid into his hand. He resumed his fighting stance.

He was more careful when he used the knife and no one else was home, but given he was just practicing and not playing with it he figured he'd be okay.

He went through the various holds Levi had taught him, because as he'd told him, "there's more to using a knife than shoving it in the other asshole but that is the basic concept."

He'd looked more impressed when Eren mentioned he'd killed two men.

Eren smoothly switched to a reverse grip with the edge out, Levi really liked this style though he used a version where the edge faced his wrist. Eren preferred a different one that gave him a wider range and was good for slicing upwards.

Eren stopped and looked at the knife in his hand. Someday that would be a sword of the Survey Corps. Someday he'd use swords to kill titans and reach the ocean and release humanity from its cage.

It was dream he and Farlan shared, Farlan had told him once that's why he stole the maneuverer gear in the first place. They both longed for freedom. Eren was just willing to enter the Survey Corps for it.

Eren smiled slightly, he hoped that Armin didn't mind if he brought the other three along with them when they went to the ocean.

It was even harder to imagine the ocean in the Underground where the only sunlight came in through holes and fresh air was a thing of the past.

It was why he was always willing to talk about Shingashina for Farlan and Isabel, it made being trapped down here a bit better.

Eren's stomach let him know that it was getting close to dinner time, which meant the others would be coming back soon.

He sheathed his knife and ran downstairs.

He raided the cupboards, pulling out a few things so that when they came home dinner would be already cooking.

Levi would be kicked out of the kitchen as usual, while Isabel and Farlan helped Eren. Apparently having him around had really improved the taste of their food.

He was tossing things in a bowl when he heard the door open.

"Welcome home!" he called out, still working. He'd made something Levi really liked once and they had the ingredients again so he'd figured he'd make that.

"Eren."

He stopped, Farlan rarely sounded that serious. Sure he wasn't as energetic as Isabel or himself but Farlan usually was in a good mood.

He turned around, Farlan and Isabel stood in the doorway, Isabel's head was down.

"Where's Levi?" It was obvious he was gone and now Eren was terrified, "what happened?"

"We got caught by the Survey Corps. They wanted Levi to join them. Otherwise they would've hand the three of us over to the MPs."

He stared at Farlan in confusion, that wasn't how the Survey Corps recruited though…

"When… when does he leave?" Because he had to teach Eren how to use his maneuver gear. He was the best at it and Eren had done everything right, Levi had promised!

Farlan and Isabel shared a look and Eren felt his eyes sting.

"He wanted us to tell you he was sorry."

Eren could feel his body shaking and his throat hurt with how tight it was.

He couldn't see so he hadn't noticed Isabel had come over to hug him until she pulled him up against her.

Farlan rested his hand on Eren's shoulder while he cried into Isabel's shirt.

"I have a feeling none of us are going to want to eat much tonight," he murmured, and gave Eren's shoulder a squeeze before moving away.

Eren listened as he put the ingredients away, "sandwiches sound good."

Eren made a small whine that was meant to be a yes.

Isabel pulled back from Eren, "come on little brother, we need to eat."

Eren slid into his seat, picking at his sandwich, his eyes kept flicking to the fourth, empty chair.

They were silent as they did the dishes for the first time in a long time. That had been the trade off, they cooked and Levi cleaned.

Farlan broke the silence, "do you still want to learn how to use your maneuver gear tomorrow?"

Eren shook his head slowly, "maybe later."

He headed for his room, and threw himself on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

That didn't help, it made him remember the time Levi had fallen down on Isabel.

He rolled over on his side and curled up slightly, his knees pulled to his chest.

He lay there for a long time, sniffling and his face growing more and more wet.

He yelped though when someone picked him up.

"You are getting heavy," Farlan muttered, "come on."

Eren clung to Farlan as he carried him to Levi's room.

"Isabel!"

The redhead came in, "what's going on?"

Farlan nodded to the bed where he'd already put Eren, "come on."

Isabel jumped in and curled up next to Eren. He snuggled against her, grateful for the warmth.

His back was cold though, where Levi usually slept was empty.

He rolled over to see Farlan was facing away from them sleeping where he usually did. Except now there was a Levi-sized space missing.

"Farlan."

He twisted his head when Isabel spoke and looked at them.

Now Eren saw how affected he was too. He was more subdued about it but Eren saw his grief now.

"It wouldn't feel right."

"It's too cold otherwise."

Farlan rolled over, and so did Eren.

It still didn't feel right, Farlan slept on his side while Levi slept on his back. And Farlan was leaner than Levi.

But it helped, and Eren managed to fall asleep.

* * *

Okay, important notes.

First and for most, there will be a two month hiatus.

November is NaNoWriMo and if you think I will see the light of day that month you are sadly mistaken, I have a word goal to meet.

As for December... Due to the holidays I will be holding off on updating because I'll be busy. I will also be trying to write as many chapters of this as a I can so I can have some wiggle room.

Because someone has decided to make Eren's backstory more tragic (hint: not me) and I need to see where the manga goes and figure out how to incorporate that into this fic. (Or whether or not I am going to branch off from canon. I'll need to see what Isayama does.)

I thank you for your hits, reviews, favorites and alerts. This story is not canceled, just on break.


	5. Chapter 5

Eren scrubbed at the floor and made a mental note to have Isabel cut his bangs.

It had been almost a year since Levi had joined the Survey Corps and it had taken some time and several haircuts, but Isabel took care of it now.

They rotated who did the dishes.

They understood when one of the others felt the need to deep clean a room, spot or clothes. Levi was gone and while he'd never been loud or vibrant his absence was felt throughout the house. Eren missed him, how he'd appear silently and just watch. It sounded creepy but Eren found it comforting sometimes when he felt Levi watching him play or practice his writing. Just knowing someone was checking on him was nice.

Levi had steadied them out, and there'd been a few fights after he'd left, including one where the three of them hadn't spoken for a week.

Eren scrubbed harder at the floor. That had been terrible.

Farlan and Isabel did their best, especially when it came to teaching Eren how to use the 3DMG but Levi had completed them and that couldn't be filled.

Eren sighed, well at least Levi would be impressed when he finally did join the Survey Corps. According to Levi's letters, which arrived regularly in a scrawl that they had trouble reading along with part of Levi's salary, those in the Survey Corps had no idea how to use the gear. Well some idea but he'd mastered some of the more complex skills and they treated him like a god. Isabel had burst out laughing when they read that Levi had earned the nickname of Humanity's Strongest.

"Can you imagine what the people up there would think if they knew he was a sewer rat from the Underground?" Eren had added, "think they'd still call him a hero?

Isabel chuckled, "maybe that ought to be part of the training regiment, spend a month down here."

"I think they actually want the recruits to survive," Farlan had said and ended the joke, but it made Eren smile now.

They'd gotten one of Levi's letters recently, so it would be awhile before they heard from him again, he wrote as regularly as he could. Farlan had to retrieve the letters from a courier from the surface but the system worked.

In Levi's latest letter he'd complained about another member of the Survey Corps, Hanji. He regularly complained about them though, so it was nothing new. Also the Survey Corps had terrible tea, he'd left the Underground so he shouldn't still have to taste sewer water.

Eren made a face, he did hate the fact that it constantly smelled down here. In Shingashina the air had been fresh.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He'd slept alright last night, though Isabel and Farlan had been scared last month when he'd had a nightmare in the middle of a nap. To be honest it had scared him too, when he woke up crying and unable to remember what the dream had been about, and images from the dream still bothered him.

He tugged on one of his straps, he had an itch on his shoulder underneath it and it was really bothering him.

But about the dreams, that had been the only one like that. He'd had other nightmares, but those he remembered and those occurred rarely. Memories of his time between Shingashina and the gang.

He perked up when he heard the door, Farlan was back.

"Farlan, what's wrong?"

Eren hesitated at the top of the stairs, careful not to make them creak as he leaned to listen.

"There's a new letter from Levi."

"But we just got one."

Eren swallowed, there should be no reason to get a letter from Levi this soon after that last one.

He heard the sound of paper ripping and being rustled.

There was a moment of awful silence.

"Farlan?"

Whatever Farlan said Eren couldn't make it out, he'd lowered his voice. He heard Isabel's gasp though.

"Eren!"

He sprinted down the stairs at Farlan's pained call, "what? What's wrong? Is it Levi?"

Isabel shook her head, "big brother's fine."

Eren let out a sigh of relief, his chest unclenched.

"Then what is it?"

Isabel and Farlan shared a look.

"Levi wrote because something else happened. The news should be breaking in the capital now, or even a few days ago but being in the Underground we haven't heard," Farlan paused, "Eren, titans breached the walls."

"What?" he stared at him in horror, "how bad?"

"Just Wall Maria but Eren… Eren they breached the wall at Shingashina."

Eren stared at Farlan for several seconds, "what?"

"A huge titan appeared outside the wall and kicked through it. Shingashina's fallen."

Eren started to shake, "no."

Farlan knelt down, "he… Levi was trying to find out what he could but he heard from a member of the Garrison that… that the wife of Doctor Jaeger was eaten."

"No!" Eren lunged at Farlan with his fists clenched and raised, "that's not true!"

His mother was fine! Even if Shingashina had fallen she would be fine, he was going to join the Survey Corps and find her when he got out, let her know that he was alive and okay, she was alive and okay, no.

Farlan had caught Eren's arms to prevent him from hitting him, and Isabel wrapped her arms around him.

"No." Tears started streaming down his cheeks, "she was supposed to be there when I joined the Survey Corps. She was supposed to find out I was alive. No!"

Farlan released his wrists to join in on the hug, "I'm sorry Eren. I'm so sorry."

Isabel stroked his hair, and he let out a ragged sob.

"I'll kill them all! I'll kill all the titans!"

* * *

I'm back! Sorry for the angst.

Anyway, I'm assuming the world of SNK has a postal system, Levi's just placed a few threats to get it to deliver to the Underground.


	6. Chapter 6

To be honest, I'm not really happy with how this chapter came out but it is what it is.

* * *

Eren twisted in midair with a whoop, pulling off the maneuver with ease. A year of training had made him pretty good at using the maneuver gear.

Isabel laughed at him as she appeared at his side, "feels great doesn't it?"

"Don't lose focus you two," Farlan called from in front of them, "we may be practicing but we don't get to play."

"Farlan you're being boring again," Isabel replied, flashing a grin at Eren, "why can't we do both?"

Farlan turned his head to look at her, "What?"

Isabel angled her maneuver gear so she caught up to him. Eren adjusted his to appear arrive on Farlan's other side.

"If you two try to push me…"

Isabel laughed, Eren grinned, there was something magical about flying, feeling your hair be pulled, the air rushing over your skin in a windless world, there was something powerful about being in the air, and Isabel's good mood was contagious.

"Catch me if you can Eren!"

Isabel shot ahead before Eren or Farlan could respond to that, and Eren followed quickly.

He dipped and then pulled himself upwards, doing a flip in midair as Isabel taught him to save gas before he swung around a corner, he could see Isabel ahead of him, her red hair standing out against the drab world of the underground.

Eren grinned and increased his speed down the straight street, Isabel did a half twist to turn around and shoot over Eren's head.

He imitated the trick and took off after her, "come on now!"

"Keep up little brother!"

They ended up crossing various parts of the underground, Eren did more twists, turns, and dives than he'd ever done before.

Finally Isabel landed on a roof, Eren dropped down behind her.

"Out of gas?"

"Almost," she admitted, as he walked up. He blinked, he was looking down to look her in the eyes. When had he grown and how had he not noticed?

"Well, I kept up but I think we lost Farlan," he said as he tugged his ponytail out from under the leather cord his key hung on, he had no idea how he'd ended up with the key to his house in Shingashina's basement but that whole incident had been a mess. That was the one that had scared Isabel and Farlan so bad.

Isabel shoved him with her shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts, "don't worry, he'll find us, he always does."

Eren sat down on the roof, looking up at the holed ceiling, the light shone down over the houses, illuminating the stalactites that grew above them.

Isabel sat down beside him, "what'cha thinking about?"

"Nothing particular really, just that I miss the sky."

She nodded, "I'd miss it too, I think."

Eren glanced over at her, "yeah you would. If you ever saw it you'd never want to come back here. It's just so open, unlike here, or behind these walls, because when you look at the sky all you see is freedom."

"Very poetic."

Isabel and Eren turned to see Farlan land, they'd heard the hiss of his cables before he'd spoken but they'd been talking.

He walked up to them and sat down beside them, slinging his arm over Eren's shoulders, _he_ was still taller than him, Eren had some growing to do if he was to pass Farlan, "you two trying to ditch me?"

"If you're gonna be a stick in the mud, then yeah we're gonna ditch ya!"

"I'm just being realistic Isabel."

Eren leaned against Farlan as the blonde bickered with Isabel, Farlan was trying. He really was, and he was doing a good job at being their leader.

He wasn't Levi though. He was too cautious sometimes, too hesitant. But they no longer had Levi's strength for support.

That had been obvious because for the first time Eren had been jumped in the Underground, not that he remembered it clearly. He'd scared Isabel and Farlan so badly though that they insisted that they travel in pairs after that.

The next time he'd been with Isabel and they sent them running but Eren had been forced to treat their wounds, and Farlan had them avoid that area for a while. Without Levi the group was weaker, and several of the gangs knew it.

But the trio stuck together, and Eren was certain they'd be okay until next year, when they finally left.

"You're not falling asleep on me are you Eren?"

He stirred when Farlan spoke to him, "no, just thinking."

Farlan ruffled his hair, "I thought that was my job. You really are trying to leave me."

Eren nudged him with his shoulder, "we'd never ditch you Farlan. We're a gang, aren't we?"

Farlan chuckled, "you got it."

"I'm starting to get hungry."

Eren and Farlan shared a terrified look, and scrambled to their feet, "alright, we'll get some food, come on."

Isabel grinned, "alright, where we going?"

Farlan rested his hands behind his head, "what do you think Eren?"

"I don't really care," he wasn't picky, food was food, especially down here.

"So do you want to go home?"

Eren glanced at Isabel, to make sure she wasn't about to start singing, "sure."

"We're heading home Isabel."

She nodded, "lead the way then, oh fearless leader."

"Don't take that tone with me!"

She and Eren stuck their tongues out at him, and Farlan rolled his eyes.

He was going to miss them next year, when he finally joined the Survey Corps. After Levi's letter about the fall of Shingashina they had been nothing but supportive of his determination to exterminate the titans. But he was going to miss them.

* * *

Okay, the amount of feedback (not just reviews but story alerts, favorites, all of it) I have gotten on this story is amazing and I am so grateful that you all seem to love it, like I don't think you realize just how much it meant to me.

I wrote over** ten thousand** words since I last updated because I was inspired by all of you. So, I figured I owed you something, like an earlier update. (Sorry this is the chapter you get).

I'm working on figuring out how things will be changing up ahead and how things will be staying the same, whether or not to include things related to OVAs (like Ilse's Notebook) and how certain events have changed, and just the extent of what I've changed. So bear with me, and again, thank you all so much for your feedback.

(Don't worry, you'll still get your regularly scheduled update in two weeks, this is just a bonus).


	7. Chapter 7

I have decided to use parts of the manga and parts of the OVA as I see fit.

* * *

Eren rested his head on his arms, he glanced over at Farlan and Isabel.

"Can you believe how gorgeous the stars are?" Isabel looked awe-struck, as she had every night since they'd come out of the Underground, with the help of a merchant. A few coins and well placed threats had made him quite willing to help them get out of the capitol before anyone noticed two of them weren't citizens.

"I never appreciated them before," he admitted softly, "I didn't think about what it would be like to live without them."

Farlan smiled at him, "that's fine. We understand." He was sitting up, one leg stretched out, his arm resting on his knee.

Eren rolled his shoulders slightly, "still…"

"Just enjoy the fresh air."

"Yes, I never thought air could smell this good!"

Eren sat up to look over at Isabel, where she sat on Farlan's other side, "I'd forgotten how good it was. Of course I thought my sense of smell was dead." That sewer water reeked.

Farlan slung his arm over Eren's shoulder, "thought or hoped?"

Eren shoved him lightly as he grinned, "I hope it doesn't rain tonight."

"Do you think it will?"

He shook his head, "sky's too clear. But still."

Isabel leaned around Farlan, "we'll worry about it if it happens. If not don't."

Farlan tugged him closer, "Eren's right to think about these things though."

"Are you saying I'm reckless?"

"Maybe."

Eren laughed, and shoved Farlan so he nudged Isabel.

"Hey!"

Eren found himself pinned under his friends, laughing as he tried to fend off their attacks.

"No stop, my sides hurt, stop!"

They finally stopped tickling him, though Isabel was still pinning him down.

Eren twisted so he was on top of Isabel, they grinned and began to wrestle, flattening the grass as they playfully shoved and kicked at each other, the way they used to back home.

Farlan laughed at them as Eren and Isabel finally broke apart, Eren wiped dirt off his cheek, still grinning.

"Come on, let's get some sleep," Farlan fell back in the grass,

Eren curled up beside him, Isabel made the other side of an Eren sandwich.

He snuggled up between the two of them, "I'm really going to miss you two."

"You think we won't miss you?" Isabel whispered back.

Farlan chuckled, "it'll be strange not having you to look after."

Eren nudged Farlan with his elbow, "I can take care of myself."

"We know. Doesn't stop us from worrying. That's what family does, little brother."

"I know," Eren sighed, his eyes closed.

/

Eren was awoken by Farlan nudging him.

"I'm up, I'm up," he yawned and rubbed sleep from his eyes, "ugh."

"Come on, you can rest when we get to Trost," Farlan helped haul Eren up, "we've still got a ways to go."

Eren nodded, "alright." That was true, and he needed to go if he was going to join the trainees.

Isabel handed him a piece of bread and a handful of berries, which he tossed into his mouth before starting on the bread.

"Good thing we packed food," he said between bites, before he licked his lips clean.

"Well yeah," Isabel shoved him, "we aren't stupid."

"I was thinking that we might be able to buy lunch in Trost," Farlan spoke up, "and eat before we have to go."

"We'd be eating early," Eren commented but shrugged. He did want to do one last thing with them. Plus their breakfast wouldn't hold them long.

They kept an easy pace, occasionally talking or playing around and the hours and distance passed quickly.

Eren perked up when Trost came into view even as his stomach twisted a little.

"Race you two!" Isabel shot past the boys with a shout.

Farlan and Eren tore off after her, Eren let out a short laugh as he caught up, his recent growth spurt had made him closer to Farlan in height and now he stretched out his longer legs.

Farlan won, reaching the gates of the city first, all three of them grinned with hair wind swept from the sprint and the wind itself. Eren still felt sad to be leaving them soon but it was eased just slightly by the excitement and the breeze tugging his hair.

They walked down the streets until they found a food stall, and found a quiet place to eat. They had quite a bit of money left over, even after bribing their way out of the Underground and paying for a ride partway to Trost.

Eren picked at his food, "you two will tell Levi I say hi right?"

"Of course," Isabel didn't stop eating to respond, "I'm sure big brother wants to hear all about you."

Farlan kicked at the ground with his boot, "plus we need to let him know you're coming in three years." He leaned against the wall, his shoulder brushed against Isabel's while he ate, and she took a bite out of his sandwich when he'd paused to talk.

Farlan tried to take a bite out of hers in retaliation but she pulled it out of the way and finished it.

Eren stood up, his own lunch eaten, while Farlan gave Isabel what was left of his.

"We'll need your gear, unless you want to explain to them how you got that."

Eren nodded and pulled the straps off as quickly as he could and handed them to Farlan.

They stood silent for a moment, Eren felt awkward without the straps on, the leather no longer clung to him and his shirt, or rubbed against his skin in the way he'd grown used to.

"Umm…"

Isabel and Farlan stared at him and he took a deep breath and let it out.

"I just… I want to say thank you. I never got to tell Levi but you three took me in and raised me and no one asked you too and you taught me so much and… I'm going to miss you."

Isabel pulled him into a hug, "we're going to miss you too. So much." She tucked her face into his shoulder, he'd gotten even taller than her in the past year.

Farlan had come closer, and Eren hugged him next. He felt Farlan stiffen at first before he returned it, the straps of Eren's gear brushed against his back.

"Don't kill all the titans before I get there."

Farlan chuckled, "we'll leave you a few. Now do your best in training."

"I will," Eren swore, and smiled, "thank you."

"Get going you," Farlan shoved him lightly, Eren grabbed his bag and ran, when he looked back Farlan had one hand raised, while Isabel was waving.

He waved once then headed off to join the Training Regimen.

/

Farlan waited until Eren was out of sight to turn to Isabel.

"I'm really going to miss him," he admitted, the kid's enthusiasm rivaled Isabel's but he appreciated it. He'd miss sparing with him for sure.

"Me too," she looked the way he'd gone, Farlan let her have a moment.

Before he held up Eren's gear, "what do we do with this?"

"I guess we can keep it."

He shrugged and slung it over his shoulder, "now how do we get to the Survey Corps?"

"You tell me, you're the thinker aren't you?"

He paused for a moment, watching as a cart rolled by, packed with clearly labeled boxes and slowly his grin grew.

"I do have an idea. How do you feel about another ride?"

/

Levi stood with his arms crossed as he waited for the latest set of supplies.

"Aren't they late?" he muttered, "how long did it take those shits to get here from Trost?"

Hanji laughed and they shoved Levi, "you need to be more patient."

Levi rolled his eyes, while Erwin ignored him and Hanji.

"Isn't it the day all those wide-eyed naive brats sign up?" Levi was pretty sure it was today. He'd been counting the days not that he admit that to anyone else. He wouldn't admit how much he'd missed his gang. Eren was twelve now, and while Levi hadn't seen him, Isabel or Farlan in two years he doubted the boy had changed enough to not join. He'd have to keep an eye out for him.

Erwin sighed, "yes Levi, the 104th squad formed today."

Levi made a noise of acknowledgement, and looked at the road.

Erwin had recently been promoted to Commander, and Hanji and Levi had been promoted to Squad leaders.

Levi had yet to form his squad as he was looking for the best, and those who were capable of working well together, since his squad would be separate.

Mike inhaled, "it should be here soon."

Levi didn't put it past Mike to be able to smell out a cart coming, he swore the man had been a dog in a past life. If he believed in those things.

Sure enough a few minutes later the cart rolled in, the driver called his horses to a halt and nodded to Erwin.

Hanji bounced slightly, "I hope my supplies I ordered are in."

Levi tuned them out, stretching his shoulders slightly. He'd likely be expected to do some lifting.

When he turned to Erwin he noticed Hanji was gone, climbing through the supplies to find whatever the hell they'd ordered.

"Don't break anything, shitty glasses," he called before he faced Erwin, "what shit goes where?"

"It's mostly blades so-"

"Hey, who ordered two people?"

Levi and Erwin turned Hanji, whose grin had become demented.

"Stowaways?" The driver turned around in surprise to check.

"Shit!"

Levi bit back a groan as a familiar blond and red head jumped out of the cart, Farlan landed on the ground with Isabel on top of him.

Hanji cackled from their perch on the boxes, Levi let out a sigh.

"I see you two dumb asses know how to make an entrance."

Farlan and Isabel turned to look at him, and grinned.

"Big brother!"

"Levi!"

He rolled his eyes even as Isabel scrambled off Farlan and ran over to him.

She hugged him, he hesitated a moment before he awkwardly returned it.

"It's great to see you again!"

"You stayed out of trouble?" Farlan asked as he joined them, brushing off his clothes.

Levi could feel the gazes of several people, and he could see Hanji staring at them like new test subjects.

"Took you two long enough to show up."

Farlan shrugged, while Isabel looked hurt.

He gestured to Erwin, "I'm sure you remember him."

They both nodded, though they eyed him warily.

"Well he's commander Erwin now. If you don't remember these two are Farlan and Isabel and they'll be on my squad."

"Levi you can't just-"

"We already know how to use maneuver gear," Farlan offered.

"How?" Hanji leaned forward to stare at him, he leaned back.

"We taught ourselves." Hanji looked like they were going to drag Farlan off and interrogate him while he looked terrified.

"Get off him," Levi stared at Hanji until they complied, "that lunatic is Hanji."

"Oh!" Farlan and Isabel shared a look.

"The only reason you joined immediately was because we had an expedition coming up."

"I will take responsibility for them. They know how to use their gear and how to fight. What more do they need to know?" Well there were a few things, but Levi could handle that.

Erwin sighed, "Levi…"

"Plus we're willing to put up with him."

Farlan's comment earned a smothered laugh from Mike, a snort from Hanji and a glare from Levi.

"You have to admit, when we saw them in the Underground they made a good team," Mike pointed out.

Farlan and Isabel straightened up, and Levi eyed Erwin. The commander looked hesitant still, perhaps he was remembering the way Levi had worked to make sure Isabel and Farlan didn't have to join with him.

"I like them!" Hanji added, Isabel and Farlan eyed them warily. Good, they had read his letters.

Erwin sighed and nodded, "Fine. Levi will make sure you know everything you need to know. Are you two willing to serve the Survey Corps?"

"We'll follow Levi anywhere sir!" Farlan replied for himself and Isabel.

Levi raised one eyebrow, "our first lesson will be teaching you how to salute because what the hell is that, Farlan?"

* * *

Next chapter will basically be episode 3 of the anime/Chapter 5 of the manga, but with adjustments so please bear with me.


	8. Chapter 8

Eren stood stiff as the head instructor walked through the ranks. The lunch he'd shared with Farlan and Isabel sat poorly in his stomach.

He'd recognized the name of the instructor, after all he'd spent years watching the Survey Corps come and go through Shingashina. But this was slightly terrifying.

He swallowed and straightened. Not as terrifying as anything he'd faced in the Underground. Nowhere near as terrifying as titans. This was nothing to him.

Though he perked up when he heard another familiar voice.

He just stopped himself from moving, shouting or reacting to Armin's name.

What is he doing here? Eren held back from attempting to look, or move when Shadis violently shoved Armin.

He watched the man walk through the ranks, stopping occasionally to torment someone.

It almost reminded Eren of the way the military police treated those in the Underground and he had to force back his anger. He'd been working on controlling his temper.

Shadis stopped in front of him for a moment, he looked confused. Eren swallowed and braced himself, but Shadis moved on.

Eren clenched his fist as the abuses continued, but let out a long breath. This was why he was fighting for humanity, so they were free from oppression. He glanced through the ranks to see if he could see Armin, if he was okay.

He watched Shadis approach a girl, Sasha Braus. His mouth watered a little at the thought of a steamed potato. Oh he could understand grabbing food, he'd had to fight the urge himself. The Underground had taught him to find food where and when he could.

But this wasn't the Underground or Draper. This was training. He was stunned at Sasha's calmness though.

Until she was forced to run laps and forbidden from eating for the day. Eren felt sorry for her, he'd had a few too many days without meals himself.

After Sasha was running and Shadis harassed a few more recruits they were dismissed to go unpack.

Eren almost tore after Armin but Shadis was approaching him.

"Eren Jaeger?"

"Sir?" Eren made sure to salute properly.

Shadis stared at him, "I heard you'd been taken."

"Yes sir. I was rescued but never made it back to Shingashina," Eren hoped Shadis didn't ask any more questions.

Fortunately for him the former commander simply nodded, "I see. Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Eren walked away quickly, out of reflex he reached up to tug on one of his straps only to find it wasn't there.

He hoped Farlan and Isabel were okay, and then headed to the barracks.

It was crowded by the doors and people were milling around.

Armin stood off to the side near the back, Eren raced up to him.

"Armin!"

Armin turned, and stared, "Eren?" Eren couldn't blame him for looking stunned.

He pulled Armin into a hug, "what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here, you… you were kidnapped!" Fortunately Armin wasn't shouting, Eren would rather that information wasn't shared with everyone.

"I got rescued but stuck in the capital," he summarized, "came to Trost because it was closest to home."

Armin glanced up at Eren, had he really grown that much, "Eren…"

"I know about what happened to mom," he hunched his shoulders, "I… refugees talked."

Armin nodded once, "do you remember Mikasa?"

Eren narrowed his eyes, "who?"

"The girl you saved."

"Oh, yes."

Armin nodded, "your parents took her in, she wears your scarf."

Eren smiled slightly, "I'm glad she's okay."

"She's here too. I bet she'll be happy to see you."

"I hope. I'll let her keep the scarf."

Armin glanced at him, "but what about you? How are you here?"

"I told you, I got rescued. Group of thieves took me in," Eren lowered his voice, "they understood that I needed to go though." Mostly because they were going to join the Survey Corps too. He wasn't against telling Armin who'd rescued him, but he wasn't sure it was common knowledge where Levi was from.

Armin seemed distracted anyway, "they really let you go?"

"After four years we were pretty close," Eren slung his arm over Armin's shoulder the way Farlan used to do with him, "but you're still my best friend. So tell me about what happened to you."

/

Eren straightened his sheets so that the bed was made perfectly. Most of his stuff still sat in his bag, but he'd unpacked what he'd needed and gotten caught up with Armin.

Armin had joined in the hopes of joining the Survey Corps to fulfill his and Eren's promise which had made Eren laugh. Since he'd joined for the same reason. Mikasa had come along to protect him. Apparently that was something she did which made Eren grateful to her.

He have to figure out how to thank her for keeping Armin safe. Later.

He followed Armin outside to the front of the barracks where a few others, Connie Springer and Marco Bodt were watching Sasha run.

Eren eyed Marco carefully. He'd expressed an interest in joining the Military Police but unlike that other guy, he'd said it was to give his life in service of the king. Probably a far nobler reason than anyone else who'd ever joined.

Eren shifted his weight when he was addressed, "I'm from Shingashina like him." He clapped Armin on the shoulder.

Connie and Marco turned to stare at him, "then you were there that day?"

"You saw it?"

Eren glanced at Armin, before shaking his head, "I was out of town that day. I got lucky."

"I saw it," Armin admitted softly.

Eren glanced at his friend, as Connie and Marco herded them to the dining hall.

It wasn't long before a group was gathered around, listening to Armin talk about the Colossal titan.

Eren stirred the soup as he listened, he'd heard some of these myths as well, the Underground had gossiped about it briefly.

"No, normal titans are different."

Eren dropped his spoon and struggled not to vomit as a sudden memory played. It was a dream he'd had once, of a titan eating his mother.

Everyone stared at him as he fought back the bile in his throat.

Marco looked at the others, "maybe that's enough questions for now."

"No, it's okay. I wasn't there but it just strengthens my resolve to fight them. I'll join the Survey Corps and kill them all," Eren pledged.

Someone scoffed, Eren glanced over.

"What are you, crazy? Did you just say you wanted to join the Survey Corps?"

Eren nodded, "aren't you the one who wanted to join the Military Police and live the easy life?" He didn't bother to hide his disgust, the MPs had made his life in the Underground hell, when they bothered to come down there. And they hadn't done anything about the human trafficking that went on down there, he knew that.

"I'm all about being honest you see. It's much better than being a loser who pretends to be tough but is actually scared shitless."

Eren's chair scraped against the floor as he got to his feet, he clenched his fists, "were you talking about me?" He was going to show him that he was as strong as he said. You didn't ignore challenges like that one.

The other got to his feet, "come on now, it makes no difference to me."

Eren stepped forward to meet him, he was taller but Eren had experience. He squared his shoulder, he could drop this idiot on his ass. Before he could prove that though a bell sounded and they both looked up.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to dismiss your ideas," he said, Eren narrowed his eyes slightly, "let's be friends."

"I'm sorry too," Eren swatted his hand away, stepped back and headed out of the building. That had been closer than it should've been. Farlan had been after him to control his temper. Though Isabel claimed it made him stronger. But it had been instinct, in the Underground letting that go would've made others think he was weak. Only Levi had been strong enough to ignore challenges.

After a moment Mikasa joined him and Armin, they met eyes.

"Hey," Eren smiled slightly, "nice to see you again."

Mikasa nodded, and reached up for the scarf.

"No, it looks good on you," Eren tossed his ponytail over his shoulder, "ugh, I guess I need to cut that," it had gotten a bit too long, "don't want to cause an accident with the gear."

Mikasa's eyes softened slightly, "maybe I should cut mine too."

Eren fell into step with Armin, once they were far enough away from the dining hall he sighed.

"Look, I know you two are curious about what happened. I was rescued and taken by a group of thieves. I was one of the lucky ones. I learned a lot, but it wasn't the best place to grow up. I'm okay though. Promise." He gave Mikasa a look, "so don't apologize because there's nothing to be sorry for."

Mikasa nodded once, "if you say so."

"I do. Thanks for taking care of Armin," he offered his hand, "hopefully we can be friends?"

Mikasa took his hand and they shook.

They went their separate ways, Armin and Eren to the boy's barracks, Mikasa to the girl's.

Eren decided to just go to bed, training started tomorrow and he'd probably toss and turn for a while.

He pulled out his sleep clothes which caused a piece of paper to tumble out.

Eren picked it up and opened it.

There were two handwritten messages. 'Have a great first day in training! You'll do great little brother! – Isabel'. It was untidy and several of the words were misspelled but Eren could read it with ease.

Farlan's was neater 'best of luck to you on your first day – Farlan' and it made Eren smile to have his family's support.

If he tucked the letter in his pillowcase to keep it safe and close no one had to know.

/

Eren couldn't believe this. The blood was beginning to rush to his head and he was still upside down. How the hell had this happened?

He'd been using gear for two years now! One day should not have made him forget everything.

_Isabel taught you how to do flips, get upright_! Eren tucked his arms and attempted to flip into the proper position. He swung slightly but didn't make it.

He almost growled in frustration how could he not remain upright? He hadn't intended to show off on the first day or anything but he could at least look competent!

Several hours later Eren would've settled for not looking like an idiot. His frustration was mounting and even though Mikasa and Armin were trying to help he felt the urge to scream or hit something.

He tried to breathe slowly and relax, the way he had when he struggled in his training in the Underground. He wished he could've wrestled with Farlan and Isabel for two minutes if only to just relax.

_Relax brat. Don't let your anger control you. Now focus._ He barely remembered Levi's voice and face, but that was a clear memory, from his days of knife training.

"Alright, lift me up," Eren felt the belt tighten as it now supported him. He focused, he could do this, had done it for years, it was as easy as breathing.

For a moment Eren thought he'd gotten it as he managed to remain upright. Just as he started to speak though, he flipped forward and hit his head against the ground.

/

Mikasa and Armin had dragged him off after that, likely afraid of him giving himself a concussion or brain damage.

He barely touched his food, mentally going over everything he'd done in an attempt to figure out where he'd gone wrong.

He was not going to the landfills, that much he knew.

He stared at the ceiling, what if the gear had changed somehow in the years since Levi and Farlan had stolen it for him and now. Then he was screwed, he'd have to fight years of muscle memory to use the gear.

Or… he could swallow his pride and ask for help. In the Underground admitting weakness was dangerous but these were people he could trust, right? He'd ask around, surely someone could offer some advice for how to use the gear.

Or he'd run away and join the Survey Corps early, but he could start by asking around.

At least now he had an excuse to talk to people.

* * *

I am not going to lie, I'm not happy with how I ended this chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

I debated how to do the three years of training and this is what I came up with. It's a bunch of short scenes of Eren's years in training. I might have flashbacks to training in later chapters but I'm not entirely sure. I'm not sure this was the best method but it's what I've got and it's what we're going with.

**THIS IS IMPORTANT.** Sorry for the bold but should I include a chapter based on Ilse's notebook or not? I'm not sure if I should or not.

* * *

Year: 847

Eren walked back to the barracks, the night air tugged on his shorter hair, it still felt weird not having it tied back in a ponytail after a week.

He was thinking of growing it out a little, not so long that it could get tangled in his gear but just long enough that he could tie it back.

He'd slowed down as he considered it which is why, along with the fact he was used to looking out the corners of his eyes, he noticed Sasha.

She was standing by an open window near the back of the mess hall, Eren suspected that was the kitchen.

He walked towards her, careful enough that he made no noise, it was different on dirt than on bricks covered in water, but he arrived behind her.

"What are you doing?"

Sasha, who had been jumping in an attempt to reach the window, leapt higher than she had yet and jerked back into a salute, "nothing si- You?"

Eren grinned a little, he'd practiced sneaking up on Isabel and Farlan for years and it paid off, "sorry about that. Trying to steal food, _again_?"

She made a face, and looked up at the window, "I'm just really hungry."

Eren's stomach made a small noise, to be honest he wouldn't mind a small snack himself, and he could understand Sasha's need to eat," alright, boost me up."

"What?"

He nodded towards the window, "I'll get you something."

"You mean it?"

"Yes. Stay out here and keep an eye out for Shadis," Eren had slipped in through windows before, it was easy to him now, he wouldn't even leave marks.

Sasha stared at him, "god."

"What?" He stared at her while she drooled a little, "come on, help me get up there!"

Sasha bent over and Eren climbed up to the window, "wait, why are you going in?"

"Because if I let you in the kitchen there wouldn't be any food left tomorrow," Eren looked down at her, she shrank a little, "I'm still bringing you something to eat, don't worry."

He slipped in, the dark room reminded him faintly of raids he pulled off with Isabel and Farlan, but with the moon shining in rather than the street lights it was obvious he wasn't in the Underground.

He was skittish, having an unfamiliar lookout wasn't something he was entirely comfortable with, but he grabbed a pair of apples, one for him and one for Sasha, before he climbed up on the counter and out the window.

He dropped down next to Sasha and handed her one apple before pulling the other out of his pocket, "is that enough?"

"If I say no will you get more?" Sasha asked while eating.

"No," Eren took a bite of his apple, "it's for future reference."

Sasha actually stopped eating, "but the window was left open by accident!"

Eren smirked, oh the window being open had been nice, "just trust me." He'd have to start hanging around Shadis to get the information he needed for the next raid but yeah, this could be a normal thing.

/ / /

After another scuffle between himself and Jean, Eren wanted a little revenge.

He made sure to walk past Jean without bumping shoulders with him, that was a rookie move and a mistake.

Jean continued on his way, oblivious to the fact that Eren had just stolen something. He'd made sure not to grab money, there was a limit here and he wanted to bother Jean not truly rob him. He'd give back whatever he'd stolen tomorrow, after Jean spent the day looking for it.

Eren waited several minutes before he pulled his hand out of his pocket to reveal a... pencil.

He stared at it for a few moments, it had smudged his hand black, he'd have to wash that off for sure, but why did Jean have this in his pocket? It looked like something used more for drawing than writing.

But whatever the reason, Eren enjoyed watching Jean crawl around the mess hall later looking for it.

/ / /

"No Armin, like this," Eren gently corrected his friend's position, into the stance he'd demonstrated, "there's an advantage to standing like that. If you face them like this," he turned so that his body was facing Armin with his hands raised in front of his chest, "then you're too exposed, your chest is open." Turning to mirror Armin's stance, he finished, "like this, with only your side, so they have less to hit."

Armin looked at himself, "thanks Eren."

Eren nodded, "always lead with your dominant hand," he added, "you can have that one in front of you, but if you don't you have the advantage to throwing your opponent off guard," he grinned, "I prefer to keep my right in front but…"

Armin grinned at him, "you're not going to be hitting them just once are you?"

Eren shrugged, "one of us has to." The idea was Armin could hit them and run, while Eren would stay and fight.

"I think that's Mikasa."

Eren paused and looked over, he'd almost forgotten she was there, with how quiet she was, but she was watching them silently.

"Didn't you ever teach him to fight?"

Mikasa shook her head, "I was usually I around."

Well that was great and all but, "what if one day you hadn't been?"

Mikasa clenched her fists, Armin cleared his throat, "Eren?" It almost felt like there was a story there, something Eren didn't know.

He turned back to his friend, "sorry, now come at me. Don't worry, I won't be hitting back."

After about half an hour, Eren called for a break, Armin's form was much better, and Eren could feel a bit of tension in his chest ease. Is this what it had been like for Isabel and Farlan to teach him self-defense?

"You're good at that Jaeger."

Eren whirled as Shadis walked up, the hair on his neck rose, he never liked people approaching without his notice, he was still learning to listen for footsteps on dirt instead of the splash of sewer water.

"Thank you sir!" he said with a quick salute.

Shadis nodded, "don't neglect your own studies."

"No sir!" Eren did need some practice with the 3DMG, trees were different than buildings, but he needed to know that Armin could take care of himself. Despite what Mikasa seemed to think they wouldn't always be there. He'd proven that, hadn't he?

He, Armin and Mikasa all relaxed as Shadis walked away.

"Okay, we can stop for now there are a couple moves I want to show you later," Eren slung his arm over Armin's shoulder, "but I'm tired, how about you?"

/ / /

Eren stiffened when he felt an arm on his shoulders, "hey Jaeger. I hear you were teaching some moves to Krista."

Eren took a deep breath and chose his next words carefully, "I taught the same moves to Armin. I came from a place where people like them would be in danger, and I thought it was important for her to know." He glanced at Ymir, who was smiling at him, but it wasn't entirely friendly.

"I see."

Eren wasn't so fond of Krista to be honest, she was too kind in his opinion and he still was uncertain how he felt about Ymir but he'd seen girls like Krista get knocked around in the Underground and like hell he was letting that happen again.

Ymir stared at him for a moment longer before she nodded, and walked away.

Eren breathed out a sigh of relief, Ymir may not have been Mikasa or Reiner but he had no desire to get into a fight with her either.

Now Jean on the other hand, he'd fight him in a heartbeat.

/ / /

Eren was forcibly dragged into a back corner by Sasha, she was lucky he'd realized who'd grabbed him, he'd broken a man's arm in the Underground for trying that. Isabel and Farlan had taken over then.

"Eren, look, I know we only raid the kitchen on certain days-"

"You'll survive Sasha I promise," he started to move away, he had their system in place for a reason. He raided the kitchens once a month, the night before they were restocked. No one questioned the old food going missing, because there was new food that replaced it before anyone could miss it. He and Sasha had successfully made off with half a loaf of bread once, he was not changing this now.

"No, Eren wait! It's not for me!"

That made Eren pause, "alright."

"It's Connie's birthday soon."

"Connie's birthday isn't for a couple months Sasha," Eren had almost been swayed though, "What's really going on?"

Sasha sighed, "there's chocolate in the kitchen. I smelled it earlier."

Eren's eyes widened, "why didn't you just say that?" He trusted her nose, she'd smelled out various foods before.

Sasha's eyes lit up, "does this mean you'll help me?"

"No," Eren shook his head and Sasha slumped, "it's probably for Shadis Sasha, I'm good but I'm not that good. Sorry."

He left her there mumbling to herself, and kept walking. If she got in trouble for trying to steal from Shadis he was not getting dragged down with her.

/ / /

Year: 848

Eren stared at Mikasa, who was going through a series of punches, "maybe if all three of us took her…"

Annie and Reiner both turned to stare at him, he held his hands up, "it was just a thought."

Annie scoffed, "wasn't much of one."

"Oh and I suppose you have a plan?" Eren shot back, his mouth twitching.

"Yeah, we team up and kick your ass!" Reiner moved to punch him but Eren twisted out of the way, Annie had dodged back and took a swing as Eren stopped twisting.

He caught her hit on his forearm, flinching a little from the sting of the blow, but jumped backwards so that he could face both of them.

Annie started to circle him, Reiner followed, her Eren waited, carefully, he wasn't going to let Annie get behind him, he waited until she was close though to charge Reiner.

He used his foot to catch the taller trainee behind the heel, which sent them both down, as Eren knew it would, the move was designed that way. He swung his elbow so that when he landed it dug into Reiner's side, with all the force of Eren's fall.

Reiner wasn't getting up soon, so Eren leapt to his feet, functioning on the assumption Annie was going for his exposed back he rolled to the side.

Only for Annie's foot to come down on his back.

He chuckled, "we've fought together too many times." But she didn't know all his tricks, he came from the Underground and he fought like it.

He shoved upwards, enough to get out from under Annie's boot.

As he got up, ready to fight, he saw Shadis watching them. He knew. After Mikasa, they were the top three fighters.

But he focused on Annie instead, he'd have to do as much against her as he could before Reiner rejoined the fight.

/ / /

Eren crept across the floor, fortunately most of the boys slept hard, between Reiner's snoring, and Eren's occasional nightmares. He wasn't the only one who had them, he was just the loudest when he had them.

The floor creaked and Marco stirred, Eren hesitated until he settled again, and the he continued, easing the door open to step out of the barracks to the porch outside.

He sat down on the top step, and flipped open the note he'd received earlier.

He smiled when he saw the words, "Happy Birthday Eren!" it was a few days early but that didn't matter. Isabel and Farlan had sent him something.

He hadn't realized who it was from at first, as there was no return address and he hadn't recognized the writing on the letter either. Actually he still didn't but it had to be Levi's. He leaned back to look up at the stars, and hoped they were safe.

/ / /

Eren played with the rubber eraser, smirking, it had been a while since he'd pulled this trick on Jean, but watching him desperately search for it, tearing his bed apart, had Eren smirking.

He'd give it back, later. He was half tempted to fling it over there now but Jean would know he'd taken it then.

But it was so tempting, since he knew he'd be able to hit Jean in the head with it.

/ / /

Eren looked up as Mikasa sat down next to him and Armin, sure they were in front of the boy's barracks but that hardly stopped anyone.

Armin nudged Eren with his leg, "I don't remember you liking to look up at the stars so much before."

"I didn't," Eren remembered some of the shapes he and Armin used to see in the sky, "but where I was you couldn't see the sky."

Mikasa and Armin both turned to look at him, Eren glanced back and forth before realizing he'd mentioned the Underground.

He licked his lips, "so I missed it. That's all."

"Eren…" Armin looked upset, while Mikasa's expression didn't change Eren could see her tense.

"They wanted to hear me talk about it," Eren said, Armin looked bewildered while Mikasa looked at him, "they wanted to hear what rain felt like, what stars looked like, what wind smelled like, they wanted to know all of it. They loved hearing me talk about but they never pushed because they knew I missed it."

Eren swallowed and clenched his fists, "they were the ones who first put my hair in a ponytail, it was longer then, one of them used to hug me constantly, they trained me like one of them but treated me like a brother. I _miss_ them."

Armin looked even guiltier so Eren smiled at him, "but I'm glad to be back with you." He hesitated, he wasn't sure if it was okay to reveal that he'd been raised by Humanity's strongest and his two closest friends.

"Maybe, if you think it would be okay, you can see them again."

That was more than a maybe, but Eren grinned, "yeah sure. I'll take you two along as well, they've already heard all about you Armin."

Armin blushed, and Eren smirked, and nudged Armin with his shoulder, "seriously. I was in a rough place but to be honest I was probably better off than the two of you. I had people looking out for me."

Mikasa narrowed her eyes, "is that why you're so good at picking locks and sneaking around at night?"

Eren hadn't realized Mikasa had noticed his new skills, "I…"

"Leave him be," Armin spoke softly, "he says he was happy."

Eren turned to her, and stated firmly, "and even if I hadn't been I would've never regretted saving you. I did what I did that day with no regrets!"

Her eyes widened a little, and Eren snarled, "those were animals and nothing more."

She nodded, and Eren relaxed a little, "good."

He glanced at Armin, "and I was happy. Most of the time." He'd been safe, and loved, and while he would've preferred never knowing what sewer water tasted like he couldn't say he regretted meeting Levi, Isabel and Farlan.

/ / /

"How did you do that?" Armin gaped at Eren as he landed on the branch next to him.

"Hmmm? Do what?"

"You used your 3DMG while sideways!" Armin gestured at the path Eren had just taken with one arm, "look at those branches Eren!"

Eren glanced over and realized why Armin was stunned. He'd done stunts like that easily in the underground, flying through broken windows and holes in walls with ease but for most of the trainees maneuvering in small spaces that required you doing flips was impossible.

"Damn Eren, you're flexible!"

"Reiner!" Connie yelped, while several of the trainees nearby snickered.

Eren shrugged, he hadn't even thought about going through the tight group of branches, it was faster than going around, and he ignored Reiner's joke, he knew he was just playing with him.

"Didn't hit your head did you?"

Eren looked around to see who'd shouted that while people started laughing again.

"Kirchstien if that was you-"

Even Armin was hiding a grin now, Eren let out a heavy sigh and let it go, mostly. He'd have to really show off his abilities with gear to shake off the disaster that was his first attempt, he couldn't believe that was almost two years ago.

/ / /

Year: 849

Eren hadn't meant to steal this from Jean. In fact maybe it was time to stop stealing from Jean. He was fourteen, just barely, and while yes, Isabel would get a kick out of how he was using his skills, maybe it was time to grow up a little.

In his defense though, during their last fight Jean had broken his hair tie, which asides from being one Isabel had given him, had caused his hair to spill out all over the back of his neck.

He had to admit he didn't look bad with his hair like that but it irritated him and he would have to wait until the next time they were in town to get a new hair band and that would be a week at least.

So he'd pick pocketed Jean again.

Which left him staring at the note, which had clearly been rewritten so many times that Eren couldn't even read who it was for, except for the fact that the name started with an M. It was clearly an attempt at poetry.

And as Eren watched Jean break his gaze on Mikasa to talk to Marco, he shoved the note back into his pocket and began his lifelong denial that he'd ever seen such a note.

/ / /

Eren enjoyed the days when they did hand to hand combat training, he enjoyed sparing with his friends, usually he and Reiner would pair up and go at it, or they'd help some of the others with their form and moves they were struggling with. Other times Annie joined in, when Eren wanted to practice finesse over strength.

But Eren loved the days when they did 3DMG training. It was amazing in the Underground, but out in the woods, Eren felt free.

His failure to use the gear was becoming nothing more than a distant memory, everyone knew Eren could pull off some complicated maneuvers that had even Shadis stunned.

To be honest sometimes he wasn't even using the gear, he was doing flips and twists off branches, which saved him gas.

However, Mikasa was still better than him, at least in terms of killing the 'titans' scattered throughout the woods. Eren may have been capable of crossing the woods faster than everyone, while using less gas, but Mikasa could kill more titans than he could. Eren didn't want to be a messenger, he wanted to slaughter the titans, the reasons he could never go home.

So he needed the practice.

But it was also so soothing to hang from a tree branch, meters off the ground and trust that he could catch himself should he fall, listening to the leaves rustle in the wind around him.

He had time, the others hadn't caught up yet.

/ / /

Eren struggled against Mikasa until she released him.

"Why did you stop me?" he demanded, still ready to kick that bastard's ass. After the comments he'd made about Armin… Eren balled his fists, "I could take him."

"That's what they want," she murmured, "they're trying to get you into trouble. You're too reckless."

"I can take care of myself," he shot back, "and get me in trouble? They're picking on Armin!"

"Because it makes you mad," Mikasa looked at him, "and you respond how they want."

He sighed, and ran his hand through his hair, careful of his ponytail, he'd never gotten his temper quite under control.

"That doesn't mean I need you to protect me," he shrugged his shoulders, "I could've handled it."

Mikasa shook her head, he moved to pass her.

"Just take care of Armin," he suggested quietly, before he continued walking.

/ / /

Reiner ruffled Eren's hair as he passed him, they were gathered around in the boy's barracks talking and joking around.

Thomas gestured, "and then Samuel here-"

Samuel shoved him and Eren looked over the group, smiling a little as he watched them talk amongst themselves.

Mikasa sat down next to him and Armin, he smiled at her in greeting, and she nodded once.

Armin was resting against Eren's side, safe from being jostled by some of the rowdier cadets, but able to join in the conversations, he and Jean were discussing something, Jean was on the other side of the room pinning Marco down, though he didn't seem to mind.

Connie was teasing Sasha with a bit of food, Eren called over.

"She's going to bite your fingers off!"

Connie pulled the food away from Sasha again, before he handed to her, "probably."

In between Mikasa and Armin's warmth Eren was relaxing even more, enough that when Reiner started teasing him he just flipped him off.

"Look, Eren's all grown up."

"Oh bite me Reiner."

"Kinky."

Even Bertholdt was grinning at their exchange, Reiner turned his attention elsewhere.

"Are we boring you Annie or did your face finally freeze that way?"

Eren covered his mouth as Annie stood up, "at least it doesn't look like yours."

The group howled in laughter, while Reiner just grinned.

Eren's chest twisted a little, as he knew he would be leaving most of them to join the Survey Corps. He was going to miss this.

But the stories he'd have to tell Isabel and Farlan… oh the stories he'd have to tell.

/ / /

Year: 850

You'd have thought the incident with the love note would've taught Eren. But he they were graduating in a few weeks and Eren was determined to pull this prank on Jean one more time.

But as he stared at the condom in horror, he decided maybe it would've been better to have left Jean alone.


	10. Chapter 10

And my OTP slipped its way in here, my bad.

* * *

Eren's cheek and arm stung from where Jean had hit him, but he looked at his two friends, who'd just sworn to follow him into the Survey Corps.

Mikasa he understood. Needing to pay a debt. He understood that very well. While he wasn't sure how Mikasa's urge to protect him, and Armin, would play out in the Survey Corps he could see why she wanted to follow him.

Armin though… Armin should've headed for the Garrison where they would truly appreciate his mind.

"You're not a burden," he nudged Armin with his shoulder, before noticing the members of the Garrison. He'd have to wait for them to pass, he was supposed to meet up with Sasha for a final raid on the kitchens.

Except… one of them, the captain, looked familiar, faintly.

Finally Eren placed him, he'd been a member of the stationary guards, Hannes, that was his name.

His eyes became huge when he saw him.

"Eren Jaeger?"

Eren nodded, "hello, sir."

Hannes waved his hand, "at ease, I can't believe it's you."

"I can't believe they let a drunkard like you be captain of the Garrison," Eren fired back, but without malice, Hannes chuckled.

"Got the same bite I see. I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see you here, with all that talk about fighting titans you used do."

Eren shrugged, and watched as Hannes' face fell.

"I'm sorry about your mother."

Eren shook his head, "that wasn't your fault, what could you have done?"

Mikasa had told the story of how she'd run to make sure her adopted mother got out of Shingashina to find her pinned under a house, and that a titan had come. She said she'd been saved by a member of the Garrison, Hannes had to be the one. He'd always seemed fond of Eren.

Hannes studied Eren, "sometime before you were born, my wife fell ill to a sickness that was spreading at the time. But one day your father arrived with the cure, and he saved everyone."

Eren was silent, Hannes sighed.

"I always wanted to return the favor but I couldn't."

What was with people and bringing up debts they owed today?

"It's fine."

Hannes wasn't done though, "where your father is though, no one knows," he'd moved to stand beside them, "do you know where he is?"

Eren was about to tell him of course not, after all he'd been missing, when pain shot through his head like the time a rival gang member had smashed his head against a wall.

He dropped to the ground, holding his head.

"Eren!"

"What the-"

"Mister Hannes what did you do?"

"Eren are you alright?"

Eren clutched his forehead, "yeah, I'm fine, but my head feels like it's gonna split apart."

_The stalactites that hung from the ceiling of the underground._

_The feeling of his gear being removed._

"_Dad what are you doing?"_

"_Eren give me your arm!"_

"Eren!"

He opened his eyes to see several of his fellow trainees (or not anymore, they were disbanded right?) standing over him.

Armin looked worried, "you just collapsed and we had to carry you here."

"And whatever you were dreaming about it wasn't fun. What was it about?"

Eren sat up, rubbing his temples, "I… I don't remember."

"Well come on, after breakfast we've all got our last chores!"

"Right, right," Eren got to his feet, today most of them joined their chosen branch, he'd have to wait a few days, most likely, as the Survey Corps was out on an expedition, but that was okay.

He pulled on his trainee jacket and followed his friends. Soon he'd be a member of the Survey Corps.

He paused, feeling the weight of the key on his chest and remembered Hannes' question.

He'd been in the Underground when his father disappeared. His head started to throb and Eren hurried after his friends. One episode was enough for him.

/ / /

"Connie, you're joining the scouting legion?" Thomas looked surprised, as Eren cleaned the cannon.

"But you were ranked eighth!" Eren didn't pause in his cleaning efforts, he'd learned to clean while he talked, "you said you were going to go for the police."

Connie didn't look at him, "that would be nice for sure but…"

"It's because of your speech yesterday," Eren turned to look at Thomas in confusion. Farlan had told him several times he knew how to be convincing when he talked but…

"It's not that!" Connie exclaimed, "it's uh… it's Jean! I didn't want to find myself on the same squad as him!"

"That doesn't explain why you chose the Survey Corps," Thomas teased, Eren paused his cleaning, ready to call Thomas out, Connie had the right to maintain his dignity.

But Thomas surprised him, "It's nothing to be embarrassed about. Sometimes you just have to find the courage to do what needs to be done. Plus, it's not like you're the only-"

"Excuse me everyone," Sasha cut off what, in Eren's opinion, was the beginning of an interesting sentence, _just how many people had he convinced to join the Survey Corps? _

But Sasha pulled out a hunk of meat, "I managed to steal this from the officers."

Everyone gaped at her while Eren gave her a dirty look, was she trying to outdo him? They'd never stolen from the officers.

She gave him one back, "well someone didn't show last night."

Eren's response was cut off by Connie, "put it back!"

"He's right," Mina joined them, "with all the land lost meat's very valuable."

Sasha tucked it in the box with the other food, "it'll be alright, we'll be able to have plenty more cows and sheep when we reclaim the land."

"Yeah, makes sense," Thomas agreed.

Eren watched as several others agreed, was everyone willing to fight for their freedom as well?

"Don't just stand there Eren, keep working!"

"We've got some time before noon."

Eren slowly grinned and looked at the group on the wall. Finally, after all that happened, they were ready to fight the titans for the land that was rightfully theirs.

He clenched his fist, they would win this. Humanity would take back what was theirs.

There was a roar like thunder and steam covered the wall, Eren braced himself, planting his legs firmly. The steam burned his skin, and he could hear the others yelling.

He gave the order, "switch to 3DMG!"

/ / /

Levi turned towards Petra, "you help the men on the ground and then take them and fight the titan on the right!" he ordered, before he took off, "I'll take care of these two."

He tossed his blades at the titans, barely paying attention as he killed them.

The mission had started out easy enough, as it always did. His squad had been right behind him, Isabel and Farlan were eager to get it over with since when they returned they would be picking up the new recruits and they were looking forward to seeing Eren again.

He hadn't seen those two in a while but he trusted them to take care of themselves. They'd become known as quite a pair, they weren't as good as Levi but no one questioned their places on his squad. Not when the three of them together made for Humanity's Strongest Trio.

He landed and made a face at the blood on his hand, before he pulled out a cloth to wipe it off. "Fucking disgusting."

Someone slid across the roof towards him, Farlan halted about a foot away, his blades steaming as the blood evaporated, hair ruffled by the wind.

"Where's Isabel?"

Farlan straightened out of his crouch, "she was just behind me."

They both turned towards the direction Farlan had come to see Isabel join them, her bright red hair standing out as always.

"Tryin' to leave me behind?"

Levi rolled his eyes as Farlan smirked, "not hardly. Not my fault you can't keep up." He swore those two had the weirdest ways of flirting. At least they put their relationship to the side on missions.

He slid down the roof, leaving them behind, he needed to find Petra and that solider.

"Levi!"

They followed him down, as they always did, to where Petra crouched over the solider, Levi could tell he wasn't well off.

"What's wrong with him?"

Petra looked up, her hands stained red with his blood, "corporal, he's bleeding, and there's no stopping it."

The solider turned his head towards Levi, he knelt down next to him, knowing that Isabel and Farlan would cover him while he comforted the dying solider.

"Was I useful?" the solider rasped, "corporal, was I useful to humanity?"

He clasped the man's hand, ignoring the blood covering it.

"You've done more than enough. I will take up your mission. I swear to eradicate the titans if it's the last thing I do! You have my word!"

"Sir… he's gone."

Levi set his hand down gently, "did he hear everything I said?"

Petra met his gaze, "I'm sure he did sir."

Levi stood up, he felt Farlan's hand on his shoulder, for a second, he nodded to his friend before he looked back at the solider.

"Look at him, he seems so peaceful," he could hear Isabel moving towards him, he turned to face them, they both looked sorry but when he spoke they straightened up, "well then-"

"Levi!" Erwin rode up, cutting off his order. Farlan stiffened at Levi's side with a nod to the commander.

"We're falling back."

Levi stepped forward, "falling back? Are we not seeing this through to the end? Did my men die for nothing?" Had the solider at his feet's death been in vain?

He heard Farlan and Isabel draw their blades, not to fight Erwin but the titans, as long as Levi gave the order they would never halt their fight.

"Give me one reason to listen!"

Erwin looked down at him, "the titans have begun moving north towards the city."

The four soldiers jerked, of them only Levi and Erwin were veterans of the fall of Wall Maria but everyone knew the story.

"The same thing that happened five years ago," the commander continued, "something is going on in town and it's likely the titans have destroy the wall."

"That's Trost," Levi heard Farlan murmur, Isabel made a small noise, "Eren."

Petra glanced at them but clearly hadn't heard what they'd said, Levi turned on his heel, to look at his second in command. Farlan snapped out of his daze, he still looked concerned but he was ready for orders.

"Farlan, take Petra and find the others, and get ready to move out."

"Yes, Levi!" unlike the rest of the squad, Farlan and Isabel never called him by his title or sir unless the situation was extremely formal.

Farlan jerked his head for Petra to follow him, but before he left, he brushed by Isabel, their hands touched, and briefly Isabel grabbed his hand before he took off, the gas hissing behind him.

"Isabel, you're with me," Levi ordered, not bothering to salute Erwin as he walked away.

Isabel followed him but she clearly wasn't focusing.

Once they were out of Erwin's sight he shoved her with his shoulder, "Isabel."

She shook her head, "sorry big bro."

"You'll fall into a titan's mouth in that state and I'm not explaining that to Farlan," after a moment he added, "or Eren."

Isabel looked up, Levi met her gaze calmly, "I trained him, you and Farlan trained him, and for three years he's been in training for fighting titans. From what you told me he's likely thrilled to have a chance to kill titans before he's even in the Survey Corps."

Isabel smiled a little, "ya sounded like 'im back there, he used to swear to kill all the titans too."

Levi made a noise, "always was too damn ambitious. Well he's got his chance, and you have to trust the kid won't shit himself."

Isabel scoffed at that, "Eren? Never!"

"Then stop worrying about him while you're here and help us get to Trost faster," Levi took off, Isabel close behind him.

They would need to get to the supply wagons to guard them, and that's where their horses where, so if they were to get to Trost in a reasonable amount of time (which was going to be close as it was) then they were going to have to hurry.

_You better hold things on your end kid_, Levi thought, before turning his attention to getting himself and Isabel to the supply carts.

* * *

Thank you all, you've all been so wonderful and supportive and I really appreciate all the feedback.

But I've been getting questions about updates a lot and I decided to explain my schedule.

I will update at least once a month, unless I say otherwise. Currently I have enough chapters to update twice a month, and I update on the first Sunday of the month, and then the second Sunday after that. (So I update once every two weeks.)

I will always inform you all if something comes up where I can't update. Thank you.


	11. Chapter 11

To prevent further confusion my OTP is IsaFar.

* * *

The Survey Corps was traveling silently, Levi's squad had taken the lead, ahead of even Erwin so that they could dispatch titans in front of them, and they were coming across plenty. Frighteningly though, they were all running away from the Survey Corps, towards Trost. Hanji was likely in the middle of some talk about titans not going after a large group of exposed humans, but Isabel wouldn't know, they were further back.

She rode behind Levi and to the right of Farlan, they were in a triangle formation, Levi's hair ruffled like the mane of his horse, they were even the same color.

Isabel kept an eye out for titans, but her thoughts were on Trost and what they would find when they got there.

She'd still been underground when Shingashina fell but she'd asked Levi about it once, and he'd just shook his head, it had been awful. The loss of life had been heavy too, even before the attempt to reclaim the wall.

Life in the Underground had worsened, they had a sudden influx of criminals, and they'd just lost Levi, and while Farlan had done an amazing job leading the gang after him, well they'd lost some territory around then.

She glanced over at him, Farlan wasn't looking at her, he was scouting the landscape, the low sun behind him caught his hair almost making it silver.

He turned to meet her gaze, she was squinting a little as she was looking into the sun, but he flashed her a quick grin.

"Focus," he mouthed, she shrugged, he glanced ahead at Levi before adding, "I'm worried about Eren too."

Isabel turned away, glaring against the darkening sky now had hints of orange at the bottom and was streaked with pink. At this rate they were going to get there at night fall and then even the Military Police could kill titans.

Her horse snorted, she patted its neck, "sorry." She couldn't blame the horses, it had been a hard day for them so of course they were moving slow.

She glanced at Farlan, he looked thoughtful, but given they were heading into another battle, he was likely working out strategies to use.

"Levi, we're likely going to encounter large amounts of debris near the entrance of Trost," Farlan pointed out, "it would be best to switch to 3DMG."

Levi looked over his shoulder and nodded before spurring his horse on.

The squad followed, Isabel and Farlan reacted at almost the same time as Levi, while the others needed a second. She smirked a little, for all Auruo's bragging he wasn't on _their_ level.

She didn't mind him too much though, though his attempts to mimic Levi were annoying. Though he was good at what he did and he worked well with the rest of the squad so she put up with him. Levi had wanted him so he must've seen something she didn't.

Petra was great when she put Auruo in his place, but sometimes Petra annoyed her too. It was something about the way she looked at and acted around Levi.

Erd and Farlan got along really well, and while she liked him well enough she wasn't particularly close to him. Gunter told her that Erd would tell Farlan all about his girlfriend when they talked, and happy as he was for his friend it got kind of old after a while.

Now she and Gunter took to each other surprisingly well given he was too quiet and too cautious for her sometimes, but whenever she needed help with pulling minor pranks on the rest of the squad he was always willing to help.

Most importantly thought the lot of them worked well together, and that was all that mattered, really.

Levi's squad had remained pretty consistent since she and Farlan had arrived, especially compared to other squads.

She still preferred Farlan and Levi's company, though Hanji was fun to spend time with, in small amounts.

"Titan ahead, 7 meter!" Farlan called, she spotted it now, Levi signaled to Erd and Gunter, both of them took off, to deal with the threat.

Isabel looked to make sure there weren't more lurking around, waiting for their chance to strike.

"We're gonna run outta gas at this rate," she commented to Levi, who shook his head.

"Why do you think he has us taking turns, honestly Isabel?" Farlan called, Isabel resisted the urge to stick her tongue out him, wouldn't do to bit her tongue like Auruo.

So she glared at him instead, he smirked back, before they went back to looking for titans.

They did need to refill at one point, and that time she did get to stick her tongue out at Farlan, but it was still taking too long for them to get to Trost. She needed to know Eren was okay.

Finally the walls came into view, as the sun began to set. The titans in the area increased though, Levi signaled for them to fall back.

She and Farlan came up almost beside him, Levi nodded to them both, "you two stick close to me. No running off."

Isabel huffed, that had been directed at her, "like I'd leave Farlan to fend for himself."

Farlan looked offended, but Levi continued before he could respond, "I mean it."

"Yeah, yeah, we'll follow ya big bro," she rolled her eyes, honestly, she wasn't going to ditch those two, even to look for Eren.

She and Farlan branched out a little, so they had room to take off, which Levi was likely considering doing soon.

"There are probably only titans near the hole," Gunter called, "we'll need to be cautious!"

"Nah, I thought we'd just throw ourselves at them," Isabel called back, "maybe scream a little!"

Farlan snorted, she glanced back to make sure Gunter knew it had been a joke. He grinned at her, and she nodded slightly.

"You do that, the rest of us will do our damn jobs," Auruo cut in, Farlan sighed, while she glared at him.

"How about you both focus?" Erd offered, which shut Auruo up. Isabel heard Levi's mumble and decided to let it go. For now.

A flare shot up over the wall, a bright yellow trail behind it, Isabel followed it with her eyes.

"Why would they fire that?" Farlan murmured, "who's that close to the wall?" Isabel left the thinking to him, something else had her attention.

"The hole in the wall's blocked by a boulder!" she glanced at Farlan, he looked bewildered too. Well that would keep the titans out at least.

"We're not going to be able to get in," Petra brought up the other part of the problem, but Isabel wasn't sure Levi was paying attention. Usually he'd acknowledge them but he hadn't even made a sound.

Isabel reached for her 3DMG, ready to follow Levi. She didn't even have to look at Farlan to know he was prepared too.

Levi took off the back of his horse without a word. Using a few trees to get himself into an arc he managed to go over the wall.

Isabel followed him and Farlan over, it was hard to see with the steam coming from the titan carcasses but she landed behind Levi, and next to Farlan, they'd rebuilt the formation.

But Levi and Farlan were staring at something behind her and she turned her head, to see three people, they wore the emblem of the trainees but one of them was-

"Hey brats, what kind of shitty situation is this?" Levi demanded, as Eren gawked at the three of them, blood pouring over one eye, while Isabel and Farlan stared back.

* * *

Hey, I regret to inform you all that college is getting really busy, so I might skip an update, meaning it'll be a month instead of two weeks in between updates.

My motivation and time both low right now but if things change you'll get your regularly scheduled update.


	12. Chapter 12

The cannons fired periodically outside, but Farlan was fairly certain Isabel was sleeping anyway. They'd been cleaning up the Trost district all day, and she was leaning on him, her head on his shoulder, still snoring.

He looked through the reports that had come in, while the team milled around.

He turned his head, "Moblit!" he made sure not to disturb Isabel, who slept on.

Hanji's vice commander came over, Farlan handed him a report, "that one got mixed in with ours, I think that's more Hanji's division than ours."

Moblit glanced at the report and nodded, "thanks," he paused, "can I get you anything?"

Farlan shook his head, "no, I'm alright. Go, I bet Hanji's got you busy."

Moblit nodded and hurried off, Farlan shook his head, he'd take Levi's cleaning sprees over Hanji's titan obsession any day.

He set the pile of reports on the table, and wrapped his arm over Isabel, who snuggled closer to him, still snoring. Farlan looked at her and sighed, he knew he was smiling but how could he not?

"How are you not deaf?" Erd teased, Farlan turned his head towards his comrade across the table.

"Pardon?"

"How are you not deaf?"

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Erd got the joke and grinned, Gunter, who was holding his head up with one hand even managed a smile.

Petra looked at them and her eyes softened, he shrugged his free shoulder, she managed a brief smile.

Farlan could tell she was tired too, he was about to dismiss them himself, they all needed some sleep, even just a half hour. Levi and Erwin be damned, the squad was about to keel over. _He_ was about to keel over.

"He's not deaf because she regularly crawls into his bed like we don't have a men's barracks and women's barracks."

Farlan stiffened at Auruo's comment, giving him a dark look. So what if Isabel like to share a bed with him? They didn't bother anyone.

"He's just jealous," Gunter muttered, resuming his former position, he said something else that was slurred by a yawn, but he nudged Erd so Farlan assumed it was about Erd's girlfriend.

Auruo scoffed but Farlan watched him glance over at Petra.

"Anyway, is that titan still sleeping while we're cleaning up his mess?"

Farlan felt Isabel stir, he pulled away so she could sit up.

"What was that Auruo?"

"That titan that went rogue, and turned into a human-"

"Most accounts are that he was a human that turned into a titan," Farlan nudged Isabel with his knee, now was not the time to leap to Eren's defense, "and coming to conclusions without evidence is dangerous."

Auruo scoffed, "so he blocked the hole but it's all pretty suspicious if you ask me."

Farlan kicked Isabel this time, and in response she dug her nails into his thigh. Farlan tried not to grimace in pain.

"We didn't ask ya Auruo, you just gave yer opinion," she replied, "and it's a stupid one."

"Isabel," Farlan murmured, he could see Auruo bristle, and cleared his throat, "all I know is that Levi and the commander are attempting to get permission to speak to him, and that was hours ago. I don't know anything else. I suggest we all get some rest, before we start fighting each other."

Auruo snorted and looked away but Isabel relaxed a little, Gunter and Erd got to their feet, with some effort.

"Come on, let's see if we can't find some empty beds," Erd waved to them as he walked away, the other three close behind.

Farlan grabbed the reports and glanced at Isabel, "come on."

Isabel looked confused but followed him to where Levi's temporary room was. It was spotless of course, he'd probably done that instead of sleeping.

Farlan set the reports on the desk and turned to face Isabel, resting his weight against the desk.

"You okay?"

She nodded, "yeah, just worried about 'im," Farlan opened his arms and she crossed the room to hug him, her arms were tight around his chest, "the whole thing's weird enough and then it's _Eren_."

"I know," he murmured, pulling her close, "and they're talking to everyone about his past, as much as they can. The problem is no one knows he was with us." For years they'd hidden that secret.

"Is that a good or bad thing?"

"I don't know," he admitted, "I mean it could be good, if they don't know he's from the Underground but if they found out we've been hiding that…"

Isabel made a small noise and turned her head to look at him, "it was to protect 'im."

"We know that, but these are nobles," she made a noise of disgust and his mouth twitched, "you know how they are. Greedy bastards that piss themselves at the sight of rats."

Isabel giggled, "rats aren't that bad."

"No, they're much better than nobles."

She hit him on the shoulder with her fist, lightly, "smartass."

He sighed, "but the other thing is they could claim that the reason the Survey Corp wants him is because of Levi." Farlan sighed and leaned his head back, to be entirely honest, he was afraid the three of them could end up on trial too if it came out they'd taken in Eren.

"Ya don't think he knew do ya? The whole time he was with us?"

Farlan shook his head, "I doubt it. Honestly we rarely kept secrets from each other, and it would've been hard to hide." He ran his hands up and down Isabel's back, "hey, he wouldn't have kept it from us. Not unless he had a really good reason."

Isabel nodded, "yeah."

Farlan rested his forehead against hers, "I don't know either. I really don't. I'm sorry."

She moved her hands to behind his neck, "y'don't have to know everything Farlan."

"I can try to."

They were about to kiss when the door slammed open and they sprang apart.

Levi looked extremely irritated, the lines near his eyes were sharper, and his mouth was harder.

"You two can do that somewhere else."

"Sorry, Levi."

They both moved towards the door, but he kicked it closed again, "that wasn't a dismissal."

He stalked over to the desk, ignored the reports entirely to drop into the chair, "Eren's awake."

"Is he okay?" Isabel asked immediately, leaning onto the desk.

Farlan swallowed, something had really pissed Levi off, and he had a feeling it wasn't that he'd walked in on them about to kiss in his temporary office.

"He's fine, if you ignore the fact that his story has holes in the size of the one in the wall."

Farlan and Isabel shared a look, "like what?"

"Like the fact that no one can account for his whereabouts since he was eight," Levi stared at them.

"What's he saying?" Farlan asked softly.

"Claims he was kidnapped and taken in by a gang of thieves in the capitol. Refuses to name them, 'doesn't want them to get in trouble for helping him'" Levi leaned back in the chair, "and while that story appeased Erwin, and he thinks it might work for the court case that's just the beginning."

Farlan licked his lips, this was what Levi was pissed about, whatever it was.

"How the hell did he end up with the key to the basement of his house in Shingashina?"

Farlan and Isabel shared another look, and both shrugged.

Levi raised his eyebrows, Farlan sat down with a shrug, "we don't know."

Levi gestured for him to continue, he took a deep breath, "shortly after your letter that Shingashina had fallen arrived, Eren vanished."

"What."

"He disappeared. We looked all over for him," Farlan shook his head, "he was not in the Underground. We found people who'd seen him, but after a certain point he disappeared, and that's where we found his gear."

Levi narrowed his eyes, "where was he?"

Farlan shrugged, "I don't know. To be honest I'm not sure he knows. The next day he showed up at our door, and was… he acted weird for a few days."

"And he had the key?"

Farlan nodded. He hadn't known what it was the key too, but Eren had been protective of it, so he'd left it be.

"Why did you never mention this?"

"It never came up?" he offered, before shaking his head, "that wasn't the only time one of us got attacked after you left Levi. We figured another gang had attacked him and he'd escaped."

Levi frowned, Farlan swallowed, "we did ask him about it."

"And?"

"He doesn't remember, and he gets headaches tryin' to think 'bout it," Isabel chimed in, "he tried big bro, we had ta make 'im stop."

"After he passed out for the third time," Farlan muttered, Eren had been determined to try, but whatever had happened was obviously traumatic.

"To be honest Levi I thought I knew what happened," he admitted quietly, "and that's why I didn't bother Eren about it."

Levi relaxed a little, Farlan had come to a reasonable conclusion, given the little evidence he had, but now he wished he'd pushed a little more. He'd just figured Eren would come to them when he was ready.

"He says he hardly remembers anything, but that his father found him and gave him the key, telling him that the answers to his questions where in the basement," Levi commented, "but after that he remembers nothing. The only reason we knew what the key was to is because his friends recognized it when we asked them. He is the last person to have seen Grisha Jaeger and all he knows is that his father gave him the key and disappeared."

Farlan felt his shoulders slump, he should've kept a closer eye on Eren, maybe then they'd have some answers.

"It's not Farlan's fault," Isabel leaned on his back, wrapping her arms around him, "he was doin' his best."

"I'm not blaming Farlan," he looked up to meet Levi's gaze, and shrugged.

"You might as well. I gave him permission to be alone." He'd known better.

"It's not yer fault, we don't know what happened," she kissed him on the cheek, "Eren never blamed ya."

"He should have, I thought I let him get-"

"Farlan," Levi cut him off, "she's right."

"See!"

He shrugged, "fine. The question of whether what happened was my fault or not aside, now what?" Though it was mildly relieving to know that Eren apparently hadn't been assaulted. He wasn't sure how great the alternative was but that was for another day.

Levi loosened his cravat, "we trust Erwin's plan."

Farlan gave Levi a look, Levi shook his head, "I told him to tell the higher ups I'd vouch for the kid, because I wanted to be around if he ever went rogue," he added to Isabel, "you weren't kidding about the kid's obsession with killing titans though."

Farlan scoffed, "after Shingashina fell? He forgot about the ocean and wanted to kill titans."

"He wanted to see the ocean too," Isabel mumbled into Farlan's hair.

"Not like he did before though."

"So he grew up," Levi shrugged, Farlan held his comments, Levi hadn't seen how Eren had changed after the news about Shingashina falling.

"There are all the reports, if you want to go through those."

Levi pulled them over, glancing at them, "anything interesting?"

"Not really. I mean nothing we didn't already know," Farlan looked at Levi, "did they really manage to catch two titans?"

"Yes. I trust you'll be able to prevent Moblit from drinking too much."

Farlan sighed, "I will try but given the things he puts up with I feel like denying him too much would be cruel."

Levi huffed, and his expression eased, "probably but someone needs to be around to make sure Hanji doesn't get themselves killed."

Isabel was still draped on him, Farlan was starting to worry she was going to fall asleep.

"As I said I'll do my best, Isabel are you awake?"

"hmmm…?"

Levi sighed, "you two can go, get some sleep. His trial will be in a few days."

Farlan had to wait until Isabel was off him before he stood up, "alright, try to sleep Levi." He knew his friend would get more than an hour or two but something was better than nothing.

"Yeah big bro, we need ya at yer best too," Isabel headed out the door, "come on Farlan."

"I'm coming," he paused at the door though, "Levi, am I going to like Erwin's plan?"

"Whether you like it or not, you're going to have to trust it."

Farlan shook his head, "I'll trust you though."

* * *

So I checked and I a chapter I thought was half complete was finished and I wrote 1000 words of the next one so I decided to update.

Also help me I'm dying I was not prepared for ACWNR part 2. I WAS NOT PREPARED.

But anyway I'm so glad I could get this chapter out for you all. Thank you for being so understanding, it really encouraged me.

Next update is in three weeks instead of two, sorry. I'll need the encouragement right before finals.


	13. Chapter 13

Here we go!

* * *

Hanji and Mike were off to get the kid, Levi walked along side Erwin, while Isabel and Farlan followed him.

Levi slowed, "you two will need to remain calm, whatever happens."

Farlan sighed heavily, Levi knew he'd follow his lead, and normally Isabel would but what he was about to do, to Eren…

"No matter what."

Now Farlan looked concerned as well, "Levi, what the hell is going to happen in there?"

He shook his head before he caught up with Erwin.

As the courtroom filled quickly, Isabel and Farlan ended up on his left. Levi hoped Farlan would be able to keep her under control if and when they put Erwin's plan into action. Assuming Farlan wasn't too pissed himself.

He didn't like Erwin's plan and he knew how they were going to take it, should it come to that, and Levi was figuring it would.

"Farlan." He'd know what Levi wanted.

"Dawk's scared," he murmured scanning room, his height gave him an advantage over Levi here, "the good pastor is angry, but his precious wall got damaged so that's not surprising."

Levi nodded, "how do you think they're taking this?"

Farlan shook his head, "not well, though some of them seem rather neutral. But let's just hope the judge is on our side."

"Who are those two?" Isabel nodded to the front row, "the cadets."

"Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert, they're friends of Jaeger's." Erwin answered.

Levi caught the glance Isabel and Farlan shared, he'd recognized the name Armin too.

He was also curious about Ackerman, very curious.

"Mikasa Ackerman ranked number one of the 104th squad, compared to Eren who ranked third."

When Farlan and Isabel turned to look at Erwin and then at each other, Levi saw the look of pride they shared, before fear replaced it.

"Hopefully that will be in his favor," Farlan muttered, as the guards brought Eren out.

Levi watched the boy, the passion he'd shown in the dungeon could be either good or bad, he remembered the speeches the boy could give when they lived in the Underground, now might be the time for one.

Eren looked around the room, his eyes widened when he spotted Isabel and Farlan along with his friends, before he turned to face the judge.

Mike and Hanji joined them, as Zackly took his seat, addressing Eren.

"I shall decide your life and death, here and now," Levi heard Farlan's small intake of breathe as Zackly's words, but didn't spare a glance towards him.

"Any objections?"

Eren bowed his head, "none, sir."

Well so far so good. Maybe Eren wouldn't fuck it up.

Zackly went into his spiel about the opposing viewpoints, he knew Isabel was glaring at Nile Dawk, especially when Zackly called on him to speak.

Farlan grabbed her hand so Levi turned his attention to whatever Dawk had to say.

"We would move for his immediate execution, after we conduct through research of Eren's body," Nile began, and Levi knew Farlan was going to have his hands full restraining Isabel now.

He heard Farlan murmuring something, but he was quiet enough that no one else noticed, which was all that matter, since Dawk was still talking.

"However, that provokes discontent among those who consider Eren a hero,"

"Oh and killing him won't." That was Farlan surprisingly, the glare he sent Dawk's way was lethal.

"Hush."

Levi elbowed Farlan, they would need to be quiet. He glanced over, to give Isabel a warning look, she still looked pissed, but Farlan shifted so he was partially in front of her, subtly holding her back. Levi would have to trust that would work. Dawk was wrapping up his speech, fortunately.

"-too much political weight. That is why, after we have gleaned as much information as we can out of him, the least we can do for him is name him a hero of war who sacrificed his life for humanity's sake."

Farlan made a noise of disgust, Levi was inclined to agree, the gesture wouldn't be for Eren at all, and some prize that was. _Hey, we cut you open and then killed you, here's a medal._

"No need for that!" Oh the pastor thought he got a say, Levi heard Farlan sigh as a bit of muttering broke out.

"He's a vermin who has tricked our sacred walls-"

"You know just because my name's Church doesn't mean I like sermons," Farlan muttered which got a huff from Isabel and a light kick to the leg from Levi.

"Pastor Nick, to order please," Zackly turned to them, "next let's hear the opinion of the Survey Corps."

"Yes sir," Erwin nodded his head slightly, "thirteenth commander of the Survey Corps, Erwin Smith reporting."

Farlan relaxed a little, as did Levi, Isabel was far less likely to attack Erwin for whatever he said about Eren.

"We officially ask Eren to join us, and use his titan powers to help us to reclaim Wall Maria for the human race."

Eren had turned to look at them, his gaze flickered from Erwin to Isabel and Farlan briefly.

"That's all I have to say."

Levi knew his friends were staring at Erwin, Isabel was probably pissed. Farlan was probably realizing there was a second plan.

It was nice to know Erwin was putting all his faith in Levi pulling this off, that was something Levi was so _grateful_ for.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes sir," Erwin spoke clearly, "with his titan power, it would be possible for us to reclaim Wall Maria. I would think that would be the best option in this case."

"I see," Zackly looked over, "by the way, Erwin, where are you planning on starting your mission from next time? I believe Pixis is already finished walling up the Trost gate correct?"

"Indeed, and I don't think it can be opened again," Pixis said.

"We would leave from the Karanese district this time," Erwin reported, "and then, slowly make our way back to Shingashina."

"Just a sec! Why don't we block all the gates!" Now which moron was talking?

"The colossal titan can only attack the weak points where the gates are! If we get rid of 'em, his attacks mean nothin'! Or are you so land hungry that you don't give a damn about us working people!" To be honest Levi didn't give a flying fuck about the greedy pig screaming at him.

He pointed at them, "all you do is spout idealistic crap that would get us all killed if we believe it! You don't deserve to be called heroes!"

Oh that was it.

"Talking rather big, you swine," Levi stared at him, a glare that had made even Hanji submit, "what guarantee is there that the titans will just wait patiently for us to wall up the gates? You keep chanting 'we' 'us'. By us I assume you mean my friends who risk their lives so you can fatten yourself up in safety. Some people are driven to starvation because of the lack of lands, but that doesn't occur to _you_ does it, you pigs?"

Levi had seen it first hand, Isabel had too. He knew what he was talking about, unlike the selfish bastard in front of him.

"I… I just said if we blocked the walls we'd be safe, that's a-all!"

"I've had enough of this blasphemy you vile insect."

Levi held off, it was obvious they were getting the second sermon of the day, this would be enough to keep Levi out of a church for years.

"The Wall Rose is granted to us by the lord, and it is not in human rights to maim it. You low lives saw that wall, that embodiment of unspeakable magnificence of the Lord's wisdom and you still don't get it?"

It's a fucking wall. It was just stone, and he was more upset about it than the fact people died in the Underground from a lack of food. Sometimes humanity truly disgusted Levi.

"Let's get back to the matter at hand," thank fuck someone here was going to stop that. Zackly adjusted the papers he had.

"Eren, I have a question for you."

"Yes, sir?"

"It appears there's hope for you joining the Survey Corps. However… Do you believe that you can put your 'titan power' to good use as a solider?"

"Y-yes, I do sir" Eren seemed sure of himself despite his stammer.

"Oh."

Farlan made a small noise, it almost sounded pained. Levi narrowed his eyes, now what?

Eren looked alarmed, as Zackly continued, "it says here, that upon turning into a titan, Eren Jaeger swung his fist three times, aiming for Mikasa Ackerman."

Eren looked over at his friends, Levi let out a slow breath.

"Is Mikasa Ackerman here?"

"Yes sir, I am here," she replied.

"Is it true Eren attacked you?"

She didn't reply, she was staring at Eren, which to Levi was enough of an answer right there.

"Yes sir, it's true."

"Damn it," Farlan muttered.

They weren't fucked yet, they still had Erwin's plan. Had he known that Eren had attacked her? Levi glanced at him, but Erwin's face gave nothing away. Fuck, Levi hated this, how Erwin never revealed everything. He trusted him but things like this made it difficult.

Ackerman was speaking again, "however, before that, while in titan form Eren saved my life twice. The first time was when I was going to be killed by a titan, which he engaged, saving me. The second time was when he saved me and Armin from being shot."

"I wouldn't be so quick to consider those facts," Dawk cut in, "for while they are in the report, these incidents involve a lot of wishful thinking and not enough objectiveness, thus they lack value."

Levi had been attempting to ignore the fact that Farlan had suddenly tensed and if Levi could talk to him he'd ask why Farlan looked like he was about to take a crap but he had to ignore whatever problems his vice commander was having to focus on Dawk.

"While looking up Eren's background I came across a troubling incident," Dawk commented.

"Oh shit," Isabel basically breathed, Farlan was as straight as the pole Eren was chained to, and Levi felt his fingers twitch.

"As unbelievable as it is, seven years ago, when Eren was 8, he stabbed two adult men to death."

Farlan hissed slightly, "I'm not sure if that's better or worse."

Levi was fairly certain it was about to get worse.

"While the deed was understandable, as it was to save Mikasa Ackerman, it raises doubts about his human nature."

Farlan let out a breath, "that I think we can work with."

Levi was paying more attention to Dawk, "so the question is, should we really trust him near our most talented soldiers, our funds and our future?"

Oh _now_ they were the most talented, now when he wanted something, and what funds, everyone knew the Military Police got it all. Levi wasn't sure Dawk was even listening to the shit coming out of his mouth anymore. At least he hadn't discovered Eren had gone missing afterwards…

Except now everyone was panicking, you'd think their asses were on fire, it was so easy to scare these people, fuck if Levi yelled titan they'd probably piss themselves.

Eren would probably pop a boner.

"Shit. He got them to panic," Farlan pulled Isabel back, "hold on, don't do anything rash."

Hanji gave them a funny look, Levi and Mike glanced at Erwin who ignored the panicking crowd, he was still watching Eren.

The boy was watching the crowd, he looked a bit nervous but he seemed calm.

"I have my doubts about her even being human!"

So much for him being calm. For a moment though Levi recognized the expression on Eren's face. He was older now, but it was the look of panic he'd had when Levi had first seen him in the Underground, in between the anger, there had been the brief second of fear, and Levi saw it again now.

"No!" And there was the anger.

"I mean, please, don't," Eren attempting to beg was pathetic, he'd never been able to swallow his pride to do it, "I may be a monster but Mikasa has nothing to do with it! She has nothing to do with it at all."

Levi could sense the speech coming, but he wasn't sure it was going to convince the crowd.

Isabel had stopped struggling against Farlan at least, so he could pay attention to what Eren was saying.

"And you know what? All you've done is speculate wildly and make guess that were convenient to you!" Eren was leaning forward a little, "Besides! What are you all so scared of, you've never seen a titan in your life."

"Oh no," Farlan whispered.

"What are you going to do if the strong stop fighting for you?" Eren continued, "if you're too scared to fight for your survival yourselves, lend your support to those who would fight for you!"

He always could give a good speech, though right now it was the wrong crowd.

"You spineless cowards," Eren's voice rose, "stop the talk and put it all on me!"

Levi felt Erwin's gaze move to him, in the brief silence that filled the courtroom. Time to put the plan in action. He'd never hated his job more.

He jumped over the fence, he wasn't sure Farlan and Isabel had even noticed he'd moved, they were probably too focused on the panicking MPs.

He stalked towards Eren, the boy he'd saved from traffickers, the boy he'd trained to use a knife, the same boy who he'd once held while he had nightmares, the same boy who'd looked up to him and he'd promised to teach how to use 3DMG.

He could still remember what he'd looked like, all wide eyed and excited, before the anger, before the urge to kill the titans, when all he'd wanted was to please Levi.

He could see that boy in the one kneeling in front of him. Helped that Eren was shorter than him again.

"_Promise you'll teach me when you get back?"_

"_Yeah, I'll teach you, promise Eren."_

Levi's foot made contact with Eren's face, and a tooth bounced across the floor and after that, it was better that Levi didn't think about what he was doing.

* * *

And now I start finals week. Oh joy.


	14. Chapter 14

Eren could only stare at Commander Erwin as he realized that he'd planned to have Levi beat him up the entire time.

Slowly he took Erwin's hand, "hello sir, it's nice to meet you." It may have been necessary but Eren had not enjoyed that. Who had known about the plan? Had Isabel and Farlan? He hadn't looked at them after Levi'd kicked him in the face, had they been in on it?

His stomach twisted a little, no. He'd… they'd almost killed people for daring to touch Eren, surely they wouldn't have…

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Levi dropping down next to him.

"Say Eren. Do you hate me?"

He stared at him, the last time he'd seen Levi, before the dungeon, Levi had promised to teach him to use 3DMG. He'd looked up to him and trusted him.

"I… I don't hate you. I mean you had to be convincing," he wasn't sure he was comfortable with Levi now but he didn't hate him.

"But still there are limits," Hanji approached him, "you knocked his tooth out."

"I'd think he'd prefer that over being dissected," Levi eyed him though, Eren shifted in his seat but didn't move away from Levi.

"Open your mouth and let me look," they held up a cloth, as Eren opened his mouth.

"Eh? Your tooth is growing back," Erwin, Mike and Levi all leaned forward to look, Eren slowly closed his mouth.

There was a knock on the door, Levi sighed and rolled his eyes, "best to get this over with. Come in!"

"Levi-" Erwin was cut off by the door opening, it almost slammed against the wall.

Eren looked over, standing in the doorway were two people he hadn't seen in three years.

He got to his feet, stumbling a little, but unable to stop his grin, "Isabel, Farlan!"

Farlan moved to the side to let Isabel race over to hug him. He returned it, he was beginning to see just how much he'd grown since he'd seen her last.

"Levi how could ya?" she pulled back to glare at Levi, who looked unimpressed but it made Eren smile a little. He'd missed her enthusiasm and was touched she was mad at _Levi_ for his sake.

"Don't worry, we'll keep big brother away from ya," she promised, reaching up to examine one of the marks on his cheek.

"I think you're taller than Farlan."

"No," Farlan crossed over, and stood next to Eren, "see?"

"Not yet," she teased him, while Eren turned to Farlan, he was just a bit shorter than him.

He shook his head, "damn kid. It's nice to see you again."

"You too."

Farlan looked him over, "though when you said you were going to join the Survey Corps this isn't what I imagined."

Eren surprised himself when he laughed, just a short one but it happened, "me neither."

Erwin, Mike and Hanji were staring at them, Eren sat back down, Isabel sat in between him and Levi, while Farlan leaned on the arm of the couch.

"Wait, you two know him?" Hanji was sitting on the floor cross-legged now, and looked up at them, Eren looked up at Farlan who nodded before he looked at Isabel.

"I told you to wait."

She rolled her eyes, "well I was worried about him. And don't pretend you weren't."

"Of course I was," Farlan looked offended, straightening up.

"How exactly do you two know him?" Erwin asked, cutting off their discussion, Eren shrank in his seat a little, but neither Isabel nor Farlan twitched.

"He was a member of my gang in the underground," Levi replied, he hadn't moved from where he'd sat down before, and he glanced at Eren when he spoke.

Eren nodded, "they took me in and helped me out after… after I was kidnapped."

Isabel was still fussing over him, which Eren permitted, he'd missed it and plus he had just been kicked in the face, so it felt nice.

Erwin looked at Eren, "they were the gang of thieves you refused to name so they wouldn't be punished for helping you?"

Eren sank in his seat, Farlan though gave Erwin a look, "and look what happened, in regards to Mikasa Ackerman. They were paranoid in there. If they knew he had a connection to Levi they would've never let us have him."

Erwin's response was cut off by Levi, "I hope you really appreciate that Erwin, I don't enjoy kicking my gang around."

Erwin turned his attention away from Eren and Farlan, "it's not as if you'd mentioned this to me Levi..."

"We never mentioned our connection to Eren," Farlan said, "it was for the best in our opinion."

Isabel nodded, she finally stopped examining his wounds, Eren moved a little closer to her, "yeah, kid had enough trouble without everyone knowing he was trained by big bro."

Hanji perked up, "you think they would've mocked him for it?" Their goggles reflected the light from the window as they looked up.

Levi scoffed, "think about how people treated these two when they first showed up."

Farlan reached over to squeeze Eren's shoulder, "that and the fact everyone would think it wasn't Eren's talent it was just his training. Which helped but he should get the recognition he deserved. So we never told anyone."

"Sorry 'bout that," Isabel was talking to Hanji, "it wasn't personal."

"I still don't appreciate that you kept this from me," Erwin was looking at Levi, who leaned back against the couch.

"Our motivation wasn't to hide this from you but to protect Eren," Farlan looked tense, the kind he got when he was angry or defensive, and it put Eren on edge, "that _meant_ hiding it from you but it wasn't personal. It would've come out when he joined the Survey Corps as he intended but until that time it was best left unmentioned."

Eren couldn't read Erwin as easily as he could Farlan, or at all really, so he had no idea what he was thinking.

"You intended to tell me when he joined?"

Levi scoffed, "would've been hard to hide, with these two fawning over him and I would've claimed him for my squad."

"Of course with Eren's ranking, few people would've questioned his inclusion to Levi's squads," Farlan added, "but those of you close to us would've realized we were too familiar with him."

Isabel interrupted, "and when we're ya gonna to tell us that you were ranked third?"

Eren offered her his best sheepish grin, it had worked when he was younger, "in person when I saw you?" She didn't look swayed but he grinned again and she smiled back, before shoving him with her shoulder.

Eren glanced at Farlan, he kept rubbing the back of his left hand, behind his knuckles, "are you okay?"

Farlan looked down and snorted, "oh, yes. Isabel just dug her nails into my hand."

"I did not!"

"Did too, look!" Farlan offered her his hand, "there are marks!"

Eren could see faint red marks on Farlan's skin, which was now tanner than he remembered.

"Sorry."

"Well if that's what it took for you not to yell at the idiots in there, I'll take it," Farlan let her play with his hand, "they'll fade in a little bit."

"Is that why you suddenly looked like you had to shit?" Levi asked, which got snorts from both Isabel and Farlan.

"Well it did hurt."

Isabel kissed the back of his hand, "there, all better."

"Ummm…" Eren looked back and forth, "did…" They'd been friendly before he'd left but that was more affectionate than he was used to. He could oblivious at times but they'd said Isabel had held Farlan's hand, and she'd just kissed him so...

Farlan made a small noise, "about that..."

"They're dating and didn't know how to tell you."

Isabel turned around to face Levi, she stuck her tongue out at him, Eren didn't even have to see her to know that's what she did.

Erwin cleared his throat, "will they be able to act impartially in regards to Eren?"

"No," Eren turned to look at Levi, who leaned forward, "that isn't _their_ job Erwin. That's mine."

"What if something were to happen to you and they were the ones who had to carry out the task of killing Eren," Erwin replied, "what then?"

"That's rather unlikely isn't it?" Farlan pointed out, "that something would happen to Levi?"

"But not impossible. Would you two be capable of killing Eren if it came to it?"

They were both silent, Eren swallowed.

"Please… I…"

"I know what I'm doing Erwin," Levi stated, "they aren't here to keep Eren in line, not the way I am."

"Is that what you meant when you said pain was the most effective form of discipline?" Farlan didn't sound right, his voice was tight, Levi nodded once. Eren didn't like the look on Farlan's face, he was almost glaring at Levi.

"I'm here if Eren goes out of control. They're here to make sure that doesn't happen."

Erwin nodded once, "very well then Levi, I'll leave your squad to your discretion."

Eren wasn't sure that was really the end of it, but as Isabel pulled him closer, he let it go.

* * *

Some I'm on summer break, woo hoo! I will try to binge write a whole bunch of chapters for you all.

Also I updated a few hours early today since I had friends coming over.


	15. Chapter 15

At the anon who asked about how cold Levi was being to Eren, that will be addressed at some point but understand Levi did _not_ help raise Eren, not really. He and Eren lived together for a year, _six_ years ago. Levi barely knows him. However since I hadn't touched on that, excellent question. Don't worry, you'll get some of the stuff you asked for as Levi works to repair his relationship with Eren.

I hope you don't mind me answering this here because it was a good question and an oversight on my part.

* * *

Levi wasn't surprised to find Farlan and Isabel in his temporary office, Farlan was leaning against the desk, while he faced the door, and Isabel sat at his feet. Levi had been pulled away to deal with the paperwork of having Eren in his squad, leaving the boy to the mercy of Hanji and the pair before him.

The pair who'd had several hours to reflect on what happened in the courtroom.

Levi shut the door behind him.

"How's Eren?"

"Good. He's recovered fully, due to his titan healing powers, Hanji is thrilled," Farlan reported, Levi shed his jacket and loosened his cravat.

He met Farlan's gaze, and Farlan continued, "I think he's scared. This wasn't how things were supposed to go, and he knows that you put yourself at risk, but he's not sure how to feel after what happened."

Levi nodded, "I did what was necessary." That was Erwin's plan. They knew that.

Isabel stood up, they both looked worried.

"What about what you said?"

"I did what was necessary," Levi repeated, turning his head, "I'm not… I'm not _him_." They knew. Levi had talked about him a few times, only Isabel and Farlan knew about the man who'd raised Levi. He'd never struck _Levi_ but he'd been violent.

"Farlan's not sayin' ya are big bro," Isabel moved towards him, "we're just worried about ya."

He let her hug him, slowly returning it, "I don't… I don't actually believe that. I'm not going to hit him again." And he'd never hit Isabel or Farlan. It was only because Erwin had told him he had no choice.

"Make sure Eren knows that," Farlan suggested as he crossed his arms, "that was impressive acting Levi."

"I was just giving the nobles what they expected," Levi shrugged, they already thought he was brutal, why not play the part. It had worked, "they see me as a monster too."

Farlan and Isabel both looked ready to disagree but he continued, "and they won't see me any other way." Unless he was their savior, it was always one or the other, "Farlan, tell the others, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning."

"Yes Levi," Farlan stood up, his shoulder brushed against Levi passed, he stopped at the door, "Isabel?"

"Comin'," she gave Levi another hug, a quick one before she hurried after Farlan.

"Big bro?"

He turned to them, they stood in the doorway, Isabel added, "you're as much of a monster as Eren is."

He knew what she meant, so he took it, "thanks."

The door shut, leaving him alone in the room, he looked down at his hands, he was a monster.

But like Eren he had Isabel and Farlan. They'd make sure he stayed human.

/ / /

Farlan measured his stride so that Isabel could keep up, she was walking slower than usual.

"I'm worried about him too."

She glanced up at him, "Eren or Levi?"

"Both?" he offered, he stopped walking, "this wasn't what I was picturing."

"Yeah, this is crazy. And… poor Eren," Farlan nodded in agreement, the kid had had a rough enough life without this.

"And then big bro's obviously not okay either," she continued, glancing back the way they'd come, "we're gonna have to take care of 'em."

"Well we already knew that about Eren," Farlan joked, Isabel gave him a dirty look, he raised one eyebrow.

"Come on, like either of us actually thought he'd outgrow his temper."

"There was hope."

Farlan scoffed, "sure. But we'll just do what we've always done. Be there when Eren messes up and help him fix it. As for Levi…"

"We'll be there for 'im too."

Farlan nodded sharply, "let's go find the others, so they know to get ready."

"Yeah."

They started walking again, she shoved him lightly, "at least you'll have an excuse to drink with Moblit."

Farlan chuckled, "I don't really need an excuse."

"Oh being Levi's vice commander is enough of one?"

He shoved her back, "to other people, yes."

She rolled her eyes, "that's just 'cause they don't know 'im."

He grabbed her hand as they walked down the hallway, she squeezed his gently, he grinned quickly.

It was easy to find Erd and Gunter, they were standing around talking near the men's barracks, and looked up when they approached.

"Hey," Erd nodded, "what's going on?"

"Where's Petra and Auruo?" Farlan looked to see if Auruo was in the room, hopefully he and Petra hadn't chosen now to work out the tension in their relationship.

"Probably bickering with each other somewhere," Gunter muttered, though he looked around too, "sorry, I haven't seen them."

"Well I need to talk to all four of you," Farlan raised his free hand to rub the back of his neck, "so do you have any idea where they might be?"

"A closet?" Erd offered, which got a slight laugh from Isabel.

"What about a closet?"

"Oh there you are," Farlan turned to see Auruo walk up, "have you seen Petra?"

"She was nagging me just a moment ago," he mumbled, in time for her to arrive.

"What's going on?"

Farlan looked them over, "you four know you've been chosen for the squad designed to protect Eren Jaeger and take him down if he should lose control," he barely hesitated, Isabel gave his hand a light squeeze, "Levi sent me to tell you that we leave tomorrow morning."

"Great," Auruo muttered under his breath, Farlan gave him a look and he didn't say anything else.

"Be ready to leave early tomorrow morning, we'll have a long ride and likely some chores when we arrive," Farlan figured that no castle that had been let to fall to ruin would be up to Levi's standards.

"So will it just be the seven… err... eight of us?" Erd stumbled, probably forgetting to count Eren, Farlan shook his head.

"No, squad leader Hanji will be coming as well," he replied, "but they'll be arriving separately." Moblit had his sympathy.

The squad all shared a look, Farlan continued, "asides from their test subjects they will be conducting experiments on Eren Jaeger."

"What kind of experiments?" Gunter asked, which was a good question.

"I have no idea. It's squad leader Hanji."

Petra looked up, "so it'll be their squad and us?"

"Yes, and I believe Commander Erwin will be arrive to supervise at some point," Farlan shrugged, "as he's planning on an expedition eventually the rest of the corps as well."

"Know it all," Isabel muttered, he shoved her.

"That's my job."

"Yer good at it."

"I'm taking that as a compliment, now unless there are any more questions, or you wish to continue trying to insult me…" he'd released her hand to fold his arms over his chest.

She flicked her tongue out at him, while the others grinned, "alright then."

"I need to go pack," Erd started towards the men's barrack, "what about you three?"

Farlan murmured in agreement, Isabel turned to Petra, "I guess we need ta go?"

Petra smiled, "yes, I didn't unpack much but it's best we're ready to go."

Farlan caught Isabel's wrist as she followed Petra, she turned around.

"What do you want? Oh."

She stood on her tip toes to kiss him, just a quick peck on the lips before he kissed her behind the ear.

"I'll check on Eren before bed," he whispered, and she kissed him on his jaw.

"Good night," he added, she smiled back at him.

"Sleep well."

He joined the others to head to the men's barracks, Gunter shook his head.

"Are you and your girl that romantic?" he asked Erd, who gave him a dirty look.

"We can be," he commented, "I don't see her as often as Farlan and Isabel see each other."

"I'll talk to Levi if you want?" Farlan did feel bad about that, even if they had to be professional most of the time, there were advantages to seeing each other daily.

"We just got a new mission, I doubt he'll be giving Erd time off," Auruo pointed out, Farlan looked over his shoulder at him.

"I can still mention it, that way he's thinking about it."

"You don't have to Farlan, he's probably busy," Erd had looked excited though so Farlan would make sure to keep it in mind.

"Hey, time off is important, just because Levi doesn't want it doesn't mean you all shouldn't get some," Farlan argued, "but I suppose it can wait a little while."

"Didn't you mention an expedition?" Gunter caught up to Farlan, "maybe after that."

"There's a good idea," Farlan agreed, "after that we'll have earned a break."

"You just want us gone so you can spend time with Isabel."

Farlan shrugged at Erd's comment, glancing up at him, "it's a nice bonus."

Auruo scoffed which made the other three stop, "oh like solders should be distracted by love or time off."

"I think someone's jealous," Gunter muttered, Farlan smirked a little.

"Of what?"

"Him and Isabel."

Auruo made a dismissive noise that sounded similar to something Levi would do.

Farlan, Erd and Gunter shared a look.

"You know… talking to Isabel really helped our relationship begin."

Auruo gave Farlan a look so dirty Levi would've been scrubbing for hours to clean it.

"And not suggesting she was nagging me," he mumbled which made Gunter and Erd both laugh.

"Thank you for your excellent advice Farlan."

"Always happy to help, as your vice commander I do feel it's my duty," Farlan quipped, Erd and Gunter were attempting to muffle their laughter, "and your Levi impression needs work."

That made Gunter snort, while Auruo glared at him.

"Oh and you can do a better one?" Erd was chuckling though.

Farlan laughed, "maybe?" He didn't feel like it though, not when he was still worried about Levi, and he'd rather give Auruo trouble anyway.

They stopped, the doorway to the men's barrack was blocked.

Now compared to Levi, Farlan wasn't short. But when he stood next to Erd and Gunter you could tell he was hardly the tallest member of the Survey Corps.

Mike especially towered over Farlan. Idly he wondered if Levi got cricks in his neck when he talked to him.

The four of them saluted, Mike returned it.

"Erwin wanted me to make sure you were all ready to go tomorrow."

"That's what we're taking care of," Farlan promised, when Mike relaxed he did as well, "and I need to see Levi about something afterwards as well."

Mike moved to the side, he stopped Farlan to smell him.

"Something wrong?"

Mike shook his head, "no, you three just always end up smelling like each other."

Farlan stared at him, "what?"

"You, Levi and Isabel. You get your scents on each other."

Farlan wasn't sure how this was relevant though it was a little interesting, "did you get a chance to smell Eren?"

Mike smirked and walked away, leaving Farlan bewildered.

/ / /

Isabel walked alongside Petra, "good thing I didn't really unpack, I can pretty much go right to bed." She was tired after everything that had happened, and she yawned as she and Petra walked down the hall.

"Lucky you," Petra smiled, "I mean I didn't move in but I did unpack."

"I could help ya," she offered, though honestly she just wanted to crawl into bed.

Petra looked over at her, "no, you look exhausted."

Isabel yawned again, "that obvious?"

"A little bit, yes. And we've got a long ride tomorrow."

"Actually I'm lookin' forward to that," Isabel loved riding her horse, and spending time outside, so the ride was probably going to be one of the best parts.

Petra shook her head, "I don't know how you don't get sore."

"Oh I do," Isabel grinned, "but there's something excitin' about it, and asides from the gear it's the freest I've ever felt."

Petra nodded, "I can understand that. Still saddle sores aren't fun."

"If ya ride properly you don't get them," Isabel shrugged, "and it won't be that bad."

She and Petra entered the barracks, Isabel tossed her stuff in her bag asides from tomorrow's outfit, before quickly changing and getting ready to crawl into bed.

She glanced over to see Petra was still packing, but now that she was in bed, she really didn't want to get up.

She buried her face in her pillow and hoped tomorrow would be a good day.


	16. Chapter 16

**SORRY I MISSED AN UPDATE**

I do apologize, but I was in Hawaii. On vacation.

Please accept this 4,000 word chapter as my apology.

* * *

Eren had spent most of the ride in silence, unsure of what to make of the new group.

When they'd started the ride, everyone but Isabel had been exhausted, he'd heard her occasionally talking to Farlan.

But the others had been rather quiet, perhaps it was some veteran thing he didn't understand, the silence as they traveled.

So he just stared at the back of his horse's neck and had kept his questions to himself.

He'd been introduced to the group before they started out, asides from Isabel, Farlan and Levi, there was Erd, Gunter, Petra and Auruo.

They were to be his new squad.

And in a several hour ride they hadn't said a word.

Even under threat of punishment from Shadis, he and the 104th would've never been this quiet.

He lifted his head, his hood prevented him from seeing the trees alongside him, but he could see what was ahead of him.

"The former Headquarters of the Survey Corps," Eren turned his head towards Auruo, who rode beside him. He'd brought his horse closer to Eren, the friendliest move any of the four had made towards him yet.

"Really it's just a remodeled old castle, it only looks like it deserves to be called headquarters."

To tell the truth Eren was actually a little curious as to where had the Survey Corps gotten a castle, but Auruo was still talking.

"The fact that it's all the way out here, far away from the river and the walls just indicates that they thought we were an unnecessary division."

Eren knew that the Survey Corps had been viewed as that for a long time, this wasn't news to him, why did Auruo feel the need to tell him that?

"To think this overblown castle called headquarters, would someday become a suitable prison to hold you," he scoffed, "life's funny that way."

Eren eyed him, now painfully reminded that he was still something of a prisoner, member of their squad or not.

He glanced back to see what Isabel and Farlan thought, only to catch Levi's gaze. It looked like he was glaring at him, so Eren quickly faced forward.

He was not expecting Auruo to be in his personal space when he turned back around, "don't get cocky newbie. Just because Corporal Levi was put in charge of supervising a piss poor brat like you-" he cut off as blood flew from his mouth, he'd bitten his tongue.

Eren jerked back, his eyes widening in shock, before he reached towards him, willing to help, but Auruo pulled away.

Petra made a noise of concern and then Eren heard a familiar sound.

Isabel was cackling and he thought he heard Farlan laughing too.

"Serves you right Auruo!" Farlan called, "leave the newbie alone."

Auruo tried to glare at Farlan but he was busy dealing with the blood pouring from his mouth.

Erd and Gunter, in front of them, glanced back and shook their heads.

Eren swallowed, well, this was going to be interesting at least.

/ / /

Farlan had put away Auruo's horse, while Petra checked how badly he'd bitten his tongue.

Eren listened to Petra and Auruo's conversation while he stroked his horse's muzzle, Auruo seemed to be brushing off Petra's concern. Eren pretended he wasn't listening but it was hard not to hear them.

"You used to talk normally before, didn't you? If you're talking like that to imitate Corporal Levi, please stop. You two are _nothing_ alike." Now that was interesting.

"They really aren't," Isabel muttered, she was rubbing her horse's ears, it had lowered its head to let her, even so she had to stand on her tip toes.

"Don't tell me I forgot us getting married because you're acting like my wife, babe."

Eren thought he heard Farlan groan from inside the stables, and Isabel made a face of disgust.

"Aren't you getting a little big for your boots, just because the corporal chose you? You should've bitten your tongue off and died."

Eren's eyes widened but Isabel smothered a laugh, and Farlan was grinning when he came out of the stables.

Eren looked around as Gunter and Erd walked past with Corporal Levi, _so this is Squad Levi? But they seem so… ordinary. Like any other squad. I know they're under orders to kill me if I lose control of my titan power though…_

He glanced at Isabel and Farlan, she was still petting her horse while Farlan leaned against the wall watching her with a small smile, _what about them? Are they under orders too?_

His chest twisted a little, at the idea of Isabel or Farlan killing him. It was impossible to imagine. It was like… imaging Armin killing him. He couldn't… the idea was just too bizarre. He couldn't picture them even trying to hurt him.

Hadn't Corporal Levi said that wasn't their job? But if it came down to it… Well the commander had implied it was supposed to be. He glanced at them again, would they be able to if they had to?

"The building is ruined since it hasn't been used in a while," Gunter commented, Eren almost jumped in surprise as he was pulled out of his thoughts, "this is going to be a big problem."

"Well get to work then, on the double."

Isabel and Farlan groaned loudly in unison, which made Eren bite his lip to hide his grin.

Corporal Levi turned his head to look over, "excited?"

Farlan and Isabel couldn't have looked less excited.

Eren lost his fight against his smile, but hid it by giving his horse one last rub before joining the group around Levi to get his assignment.

/ / /

Eren had tied his bandana the way he used to when cleaning in the Underground, and in many ways the castle reminded him of it.

It was grungy and the air was stale, at least here they could open windows and let in air and sunlight.

Eren was just grateful there didn't seem to be any rats. Or sewer water that clung to your clothes and boots, no matter what you did.

But the grime, the filth, it took him back, to small rooms with low roofs, and nights spent curled up next to Isabel and Farlan, and faint memories of Levi ruffling his hair, and dimly lit streets that smelled.

He wondered if anyone lived in their house now, or if it sat abandoned like the castle had been, with people whispering reverently about the gang that used 3DMG.

He'd slowed in his cleaning as he'd thought about the Underground, more than he had in years actually. Maybe being around Isabel and Farlan again was bringing it out in him.

He was by himself right now, Corporal Levi had told him to clean several upstairs room, which wasn't so bad actually. Sure he was a little lonely, but he was cleaning quickly, making sure to put some effort into getting the stains off the wall.

He hoped he could still clean to Levi's standards, it had been awhile since he'd had to, and he was beginning to realize he'd slacked over the years after Levi had left.

Still better job than most of his squad mates.

He shook his head at the thought and mentally corrected himself his _former_ squad mates. He had a new squad now.

He paused in his scrubbing as he remembered the sight of Thomas being swallowed, before he scrubbed so hard he could've worn a hole through the wall, his body shook not just from the force of his scrubbing and dust flew up every time he breathed, which just made the sound of each breath harsher.

No. He wouldn't think about them. He would do his job, and learn how to control his power, and avenge them. Yes.

That he could do.

And he would scrub these walls clean if that's what it took.

/ / /

He walked downstairs, he paused on the steps and watched Corporal Levi walk into the room, he hadn't even noticed Eren.

He was by himself. What was Eren supposed to say to him? Did he treat him the way Isabel and Farlan did, or as a superior officer? Did the fact he was alone change anything?

He swallowed, he'd treat him formally, and Corporal Levi would likely have no problem telling him to lighten up if he needed to.

"Sir, I finished the upstairs rooms," Corporal Levi turned to him, pulling down his bandana. Eren may not have seen him since he was ten but he wasn't sure he'd look so tired back then.

"May I ask where my place to sleep is?" that had been bothering him, since he'd heard Farlan teasing Levi about having his own room. He was fairly certain Farlan was currently cleaning said room. His curiosity had grown when Auruo had stopped Eren from carrying his pack to the barracks with the rest of them.

"Your room is in the dungeon."

Eren pulled down his bandana, "another dungeon?" He'd hated the last one, the inability to see the sky bothered him, it had felt like he'd lost it all over again after three years of freedom.

"Of course, you can't control yourself after all. If you turn into a titan we can contain you in the dungeon."

Eren's stomach plummeted even as he mentally admitted that it made sense. They had to lock him up. It wasn't safe. He wasn't safe.

"That was one of the conditions given to us when we took you in. We have to follow those rules."

Eren was stunned, he wasn't expecting Levi to be affectionate but he was being treated as though Levi hardly knew him.

The corporal walked past him, and added flatly, "I'll check the rooms you cleaned, start working on this one."

It was clearly a dismissal.

"Yes sir…"

He stood there for a moment, to let the sting fade. After all technically he did barely know him. The facts that he'd spent a year caring for Eren, and was part of the reason Eren was so dangerous with a blade and that he'd promised to teach Eren 3DMG once… okay yeah that did hurt. He didn't have to be that rude.

"You seem upset."

Eren jerked slightly and turned to Petra, "eh?"

"It's normal for people to be upset after talking to him," she leaned on her broom, "he's not the hero they imagine. He's short, rude, uptight, rude, and rather unapproachable."

Eren sort of remembered him acting like that when he'd first taken him in, or he thought, he really didn't remember but he didn't remember Levi like that.

"That's not what surprised me."

Petra looked surprised, and Eren realized he had to cover his slip, and went with something else he'd found surprising, "personally, I'm surprised he follows orders without question."

"You thought that because he was strong and influential he wouldn't care much about ranks or chains of command?"

"Yeah…" Eren still remembered that while Farlan had been Levi's second it could be hard to tell, with the way Levi had never ordered him around, "I didn't expect him to submit to anyone's orders."

"Well, from what I've heard he used to be the kind of person who wouldn't," Petra idly swept, "rumor has it before he joined the scouting legion, he used to be a thug in the Underground."

Eren's stomach twisted, is that how she'd see him? A thug? Levi had been a gang leader, widely respected in the Underground and it was known he respected women and children. Isabel and Eren were proof enough of that. And she'd called him a thug.

But Petra was still talking, "and you may have noticed Isabel and Farlan are close to him."

None of this was news to Eren, "yeah, have they been with him long?" It was too easy to pretend that he was unaware of all this, that she knew more about Levi's life in the Underground than he did. Isabel and Farlan had taught him well.

"Yes, they were here before me and Auruo, but they weren't in the Survey Corps before us, some people say they used to be members of his gang. I don't know, they would've joined years after he did."

Eren was the reason for that.

"Now Corporal Levi joined because of Commander Erwin."

"What?" Now that was news to Eren, he had no idea the commander had been involved with the group that took Levi out of the Underground.

Before he could ask more though, he heard Levi's voice, "hey Eren!"

"y-yes sir!" Eren mentally cursed the stutter, while Petra swept even harder, Levi would know they'd been slacking off.

"That won't do. Go and redo the cleaning."

Eren's heart fell, so he wasn't up to Levi's standards anymore, "yes sir," he murmured, and walked out.

Levi's harshness shouldn't have surprised him, but it did and it still hurt a little.

He trudged back up the stairs to figure out what he'd missed.

Of course he wasn't up to Levi's standards anymore. Why did that surprise him?

/ / /

He'd be recleaning everything for the third time when he noticed Corporal Levi standing in the doorway.

He jumped to attention and saluted, "sir!"

The corporal waved his hand, Eren lowered his fist.

"I heard you and Petra earlier."

"Sorry sir."

Levi snorted, and Eren flexed his hands, not sure what to say. He was finding this to be a common problem, so he just went with the biggest question.

"Is it true?"

"That I was a thug in the underground?" Levi stared at him like Eren had lost his mind.

Eren grinned, "yes, I had no idea," his grin faded when Levi didn't seem amused, "no, I meant the part about Commander Erwin."

"He was just a squad leader back then," Levi muttered, "and yes, that's true. Now come on it's almost time for dinner and Farlan and Isabel are convinced I'd leave you up here to clean until you starved to death."

Eren trailed after him, "would you have?"

Levi halted, and Eren stopped as well, one stir behind him, his chest almost touching Levi's back. He could see the short hairs that made up Levi's undercut, the last time he'd seen Levi he'd had to look up at him. It felt a bit disorienting to have this change in heights, and the stairs weren't helping.

Levi slowly turned to look at him, "I didn't let you starve before did I?"

"No sir." But Levi had changed, and Eren wasn't sure how they stood any more. He just knew he wasn't… He wasn't part of Levi's gang anymore. He wasn't someone Levi was supposed to protect anymore.

He was what Levi protected people from now.

/ / /

Dinner though was somewhat pleasant, he sat at the end while Farlan was at Levi's left with Isabel across from him, with everyone in between those three and Eren.

Eren picked at his food while the squad talked quietly, every time Isabel or Farlan glanced at him he smiled slightly and that seemed to reassure them.

The squad was more talkative tonight, though they didn't really direct any comments towards Eren.

Not until Erd turned to him, "Eren, is it true that the new recruits will join in the new mission?"

Gunter looked surprised and cut Eren's answer off, "so soon? They just survived the titan's attack the other day!"

Auruo, sitting between Eren and Gunter scoffed, "bet they were all paralyzed with fear."

Eren swallowed, he wanted to defend his friends, and Isabel was glaring at Auruo, but before either of them could say anything Petra spoke.

"Is that true about the expedition Corporal?"

Eren noticed Isabel made a face, and rolled her eyes, Eren assumed it was because she didn't get to yell at Auruo.

Levi set his cup down, "strategizing doesn't fall under my responsibilities. That's up to Erwin, and he's always a few steps ahead, even over Farlan here."

Eren glanced down at Farlan, who'd smiled a little.

"But still… the road to recovering Maria we paid sacrifices to make is gone. But the best hope we've had yet appeared out of the blue."

The group fell silent at Erd's comment, Eren stared at him, unsure how to respond to that, and he shifted under everyone's gaze. He was important, but it still felt weird to think of himself as special.

"So, Eren, what does it feel like to become a titan?" Erd asked, he leaned forward, Eren hadn't expected that question.

Eren shrugged, "my memories are that reliable, it's a lot like being in a feverish state, and to shift I have to injure myself, so I bite my hand…"

He paused, how did he know he needed to injure himself to shift into a titan? Where had that knowledge come from?

"You should know all that, it's in the reports," Farlan spoke up, "so there's no reason to bother him."

Eren met Farlan's gaze, suddenly concerned, only to see Farlan looked worried, which was a relief. He'd thought Farlan was angry he was a shifter or something, but he just looked concerned.

"Won't stop them from trying. Their experiments might be the death of you Eren."

"Huh?" Eren started when Levi addressed him, "them?" he repeated, not sure who Levi meant.

"Hello Squad Levi! How are you enjoying the castle?"

"Them," Levi nodded towards Hanji, who had walked in after throwing the door open with a crash.

"Squad Leader Hanji," Eren greeted them, as they sat down across from him.

"At the moment I'm in charge of experimenting on a pair of titans that we captured in Trost."

"Should I go find Moblit now or wait a minute?" Eren ignored Farlan's muttered comment to focus on the squad leader staring at him, he was beginning to wonder if they blinked.

"I'm here to ask Eren to help me with my experiment tomorrow."

"Umm… experiment?" Eren was confused, and a little concerned, "I don't understand, how could I help?"

"Well you could be excited for starters!"

Eren stared at them in confusion before he glanced at Levi, "well, I'm not the one you should ask. I'm not exactly free to say what I can and can't do…"

Hanji turned to look at Levi, "what plans do you have for him tomorrow?"

Eren had to admit he kind of hated this, he felt like a prisoner, not a member of the team or even the Survey Corps. While he thought Farlan and Isabel were happy to have him around, he didn't know what the rest of the squad thought, and Levi…

"He's cleaning the courtyard."

Levi was to put him down if he lost control. Sure the rest of squad, asides from Isabel and Farlan apparently, were supposed to but everyone knew it would be Levi, Humanity's Strongest, who would be expected to take out the rogue titan.

"Alright, it's settled then, see you tomorrow Eren!"

Eren shook their hand, "o-okay," he looked at them, "umm… can you tell me more about this experiment?"

Auruo elbowed him and Eren grunted slightly, what had he done now?

Hanji paid no attention to the fact that the rest of the squad was fleeing the room, Farlan squeezed Eren's shoulder as he passed by headed the way Hanji had come in from, while the rest headed out the door.

Eren decided that he regretted asking this question.

/ / /

Isabel turned to look at Levi once they were out of the mess hall, she felt a bit bad about abandoning Eren to a lecture from Hanji, but he was the one who'd asked, and maybe he did want to know.

Farlan had obviously gone to find Moblit and make sure Hanji's vice commander was alright, those two had a strange friendship.

"Go and get unpacked," Levi instructed, "Hanji's squad has likely already begun to do so."

Isabel stayed as the group scattered, her brother raised an eyebrow at her.

"Shouldn't we rescue Eren?"

"He can fend for himself, and when he passes out at the table Hanji will realize they've talked too long," Levi replied, though he did glance towards the door. She pouted slightly at his back.

"Yer mean big bro."

He reached over and ruffled her hair, "go get unpacked."

"Already did, finished cleanin' early," she mumbled, Levi gave her a light pat on the head and began to walk away.

Isabel followed after him, trailing after him on his right, it was always strange when Farlan wasn't on Levi's left, they were a trio and they belonged together.

Levi let her follow him into his new bedroom and office, she left the door open and Levi made no move to close it.

"Got paperwork already?" she teased, "or did ya give it all to Farlan?"

Levi sat down at his desk, "I do not give Farlan all my paperwork."

"Ya give him a lot though."

Levi glared at her but she simply grinned back, she knew he wasn't mad at her. He was almost never mad at her.

She sat down in a chair, "wow, ya already got this place really clean, heh." Levi's new room was probably the cleanest one and they'd only been here a few hours, "ya did a good job."

Levi glanced over at her, and shook his head before looking over the papers, "just going over the reports about Eren again."

"Hmm? Why?"

"He's on my squad and I should know about him."

"Then talk to 'im!"

Levi stared at her, raising one eyebrow, his lips thinned slightly.

"Okay, so yeah yer not great at talkin' to people but the reports aren't gonna tell ya everything," she pointed out, "And he's one of us."

Levi paused at that, and thinned his lips again. He wanted to say something, so Isabel leaned forward.

"What?"

He didn't reply but Isabel wasn't going to let that go. No, Levi had thought something, "come on, tell me!"

Levi didn't respond, again, Isabel sighed loudly, "fine."

Farlan walked in and closed the door behind him, "hey."

"I hope that bottle was like that when you got there."

Isabel glanced over to see Farlan was holding a half empty bottle, he glanced down at it, "oh, yes. I took it from Moblit and sent him to bed, he was sober enough to walk by himself."

Farlan walked over to set the bottle on Levi's desk, "so, what now?"

"You two can go to bed if you want," Levi told them, "though Farlan?"

Isabel looked up as well, Levi had looked up from the reports.

"I need you to assess Eren's skills at some point."

"Why aren't you doin' it?" Isabel asked, she fought back a yawn, the hard day of riding and cleaning was catching up to her.

Levi tapped the papers against the desk, "I didn't think he'd be comfortable with doing hand to hand combat with me."

Isabel made a small noise, and Farlan's eyes widened slightly. That made sense, she wasn't eager to see the two them fighting any time soon now that she thought about it.

Farlan raised one hand to cover his mouth as he yawned, Isabel shook her head.

"Getting' tired Far?"

He huffed slightly, "a little." She smiled at him as he brushed his bangs out of his eyes. Levi looked up from his papers and waved his hand for them to leave.

"'Night big bro," she got to her feet, offering one hand to Farlan, he took it and she pulled him gently toward the door.

"Good night," Levi murmured, Isabel thought he might've smiled a little.

Out in the hallway she pulled Farlan into a corner, he leaned down towards her.

"No," she turned her head away, though it wasn't his fault, usually when they did this she wanted to kiss him, "something's wrong."

"What makes you say that?" Farlan was all business again, though he continued to hold her hand.

"When I said somethin' about the four of us bein' a gang he got a funny look, like he disagreed or somethin'," Isabel wasn't sure what Levi's expression had been, not quite, but something about her comment had bothered him.

Farlan hummed softly, "could be that Eren and Levi were only in our gang together for a year. We've known Levi for ages, and we basically raised Eren for four years but Levi was only there for one of them. They hardly know each other."

Isabel rested her free hand on Farlan's chest, "yeah but we're still a gang." Farlan was right about how little Eren and Levi knew each other, but they were both like brothers to her, and she wanted them to get along.

"I have an idea, because Levi does need to have Eren's trust, so I'll talk to him about something," Farlan held her gaze, the dim light cast shadows that made his hazel eyes darker, "and you're right, we're a gang. We just… need to work things out."

"Well Levi's bein' stubborn."

"Like you have room to talk about that."

Isabel smacked him with the hand on his chest, and glared at him.

He just smiled and used his free hand to cup her cheek, "come on now, you are."

She looked away from him, "and ya worry too much over stupid things."

"I'm cautious."

"Ya worry."

Farlan looked at her and his eyes softened, "can you blame me?"

"No," she almost looked down, "but I can tease ya."

He smiled, and now they did kiss, she wrapped her arms over his shoulders, sliding a hand up his neck into his hair, while he rested his hand on her back.

"You know," he whispered, in between kisses, "everyone's probably in bed, so if you want to join me in mine…"

"Vice Commander Church, are ya suggestin' we break rules?"

"No, it was an accident, we were talking and we fell asleep on my bed. Under the sheets," he smiled and kissed her again.

"Sounds like a plan ta me," she whispered against his lips, "but we should wait, just a few more minutes, make sure everyone is sleepin'."

"Definitely."


	17. Chapter 17

Following the death of Hanji's subjects Eren ended up being pulled to the side by Farlan, they stood behind the base, Farlan leaning against the wall, obviously waiting.

Eren leaned next to him, "Commander Erwin said something weird to me."

"He does that," Farlan glanced at him, "you don't look like you slept well. How long did Hanji keep you up?"

Eren was touched by Farlan's concern, it was almost as if nothing had changed, "all night."

Farlan's brow furrowed, "they should've let you get to sleep, I know they get excited about their experiments but still…"

Eren covered a yawn behind his hand, "and the initiation ceremony is later today and I got permission to attend."

"Maybe I should let you go get a nap," Farlan murmured, his hazel eyes darkened slightly, "you're still a kid, you need sleep."

"I'm fifteen Farlan I'm not a kid!"

Farlan's smile was fond and slightly crooked, he reached over to ruffle Eren's hair, "you sounded so much like Isabel…"

Eren let Farlan play with his hair, "where is she anyway?" After all he'd figured that's who they were waiting for.

"I'm not sure," Farlan took his place against the building again, "I thought she'd be here by now, we wanted to get some time alone with you."

Eren wasn't sure how to respond to the look Farlan gave him, it was warm, and he'd missed the two of them so much. Having Farlan not shy away from him was nice.

Except… he wasn't sure anymore. He'd grown up, and things had changed.

His stomach growled, and Farlan made a face, "sorry I didn't think Isabel would keep us waiting for so long."

"Just fer that I'm stealin' yer bacon."

Isabel was holding three plates of food, one of which she offered to Eren, along with a fork.

He dug in while she stole bacon off the second plate, before handing it to Farlan.

Farlan glared at her as he sat down, "well you could've told me that's what you were doing before running off."

Isabel kicked him in the leg and he kicked her back, before they both started eating, Farlan reached for her bacon and almost got stabbed in the hand with her fork.

"So, Eren and I were talking and Hanji kept him up all night."

Isabel tore a piece of bread with her teeth and swallowed, "of course they did. Babblin' 'bout their research?"

"I did ask."

"I told big bro we shoulda saved ya."

Farlan chuckled, "so maybe we could talk to him later, let him get a nap first?"

"No!" Eren paused in the middle of cutting his food, "I want to talk to you two!" This was the first moment he'd gotten alone with them.

"You look exhausted though, and Levi had us cleaning all yesterday," Farlan glanced at him, then turned to Isabel, before nodding, "but alright."

Eren moved closer, after all Isabel and Farlan's knees were touching, even if Farlan had to keep chasing her away from his plate. Isabel probably wouldn't steal from him, so Eren felt somewhat safe.

Other than Farlan's failed attempt at bacon stealing, their breakfast was quiet, Eren kept glancing at them, before down at his plate.

"Okay, enough. What's bothin' ya?"

Eren paused, his meal nearly finished, "I… nothing."

"Don't lie to us Eren, come on."

"It's just I didn't expect… well, Levi to be so cold towards me," Eren chased his eggs around his plate, "I wasn't expecting him to be friendly but he's…"

Isabel lightly tugged on Eren's ponytail, "big bro's got a lot goin' on. Don't worry, he'll warm up in a little bit."

Eren wasn't so sure, but he took a bite of his eggs rather than say so, "also, the trial."

The other two were silent. Eren stared at his plate. Sure, Levi's treatment had been rough, but wondering about how Isabel and Farlan saw what had happened.

"It's not like we knew," Farlan was choosing his words carefully, but Eren could hear a hint of guilt in his voice, and when he looked up at him, he thought he saw a hint of regret.

"So you two weren't in on…" Isabel looked so offended at the suggestion that Eren stopped there.

"No, Levi just told us we had to trust Erwin's idea," Farlan's eyes narrowed and his face darkened, Eren recognized that look from the Underground when Farlan was forced to do something he'd rather avoid, "we talked to him about it. It won't happen again."

Eren nodded slightly, Isabel poked him in the chest, "now come on, tell us everything!"

"Everything?" Eren stared at them in confusion, "about what?" Being a titan shifter?

"We haven't seen ya in three years Eren, tell us what happened!"

Eren slowly grinned, "oh, well… wait," he glanced from Isabel to Farlan, "I want to know about you two."

Isabel looked down while Farlan flushed slightly, "that is uhh…"

"Fair is fair now tell."

Farlan stared at him, mouth hanging open, "Is, do you hear this? Someone got cocky while he was gone."

Isabel laughed, "what are ya hidin' little bro?"

"Nothing! You two are the ones that hid your relationship!"

Farlan held up one hand, "okay, that was, in our defense, something we didn't want to tell you over letter. We were going to tell you in person."

"But how did it happen?" Eren was still a bit confused on that, it had only been three years, and yeah when he was younger sometimes he'd thought Isabel and Farlan would be good parents together he hadn't…

"I think part of it was raising you," Farlan admitted, "I mean we'd raised a kid together. Something just kind of changed."

Isabel nudged Farlan, "well he's better at romance than I am."

"You just don't want to answer Eren's question," Farlan lightly pushed back, "alright. It… After we got here, we knew only each other and Levi, so we stayed close together."

Eren leaned forward, "why are you blushing?"

"Because we missed sharing a bed. Not just with each other, we missed you too but…"

Eren grinned, as he watched Farlan struggle to answer the question.

"We were forced to be more professional and that just made… well it made me at least miss her."

Isabel gave him a look, "yeah you started actin' too serious, ya shoulda lightened up."

"As you often told me." Farlan's mouth twitched, Eren thought he seemed more fond than upset though, based on the tender way he looked at her, "constantly teasing me."

"Ya needed ta laugh!"

"I was being serious because I wanted to be respected. You know people didn't listen to me!"

"Don't bring that back up, it wasn't yer fault they were idiots that didn't listen to ya."

Farlan looked down, "but I was supposed to be responsible for them."

Isabel kicked him in the leg, "'twasn't yer fault."

"What happened?" Eren cut in, Isabel's face fell slightly.

"On our first expedition two soldiers died. Auruo and Petra replaced them."

Eren paused, "oh." So that's who hadn't listened to Farlan, his own squad, "you were vice commander then?"

"Yes. But the thing was it was a choice between me and Erd. Erd made sense but Levi treated me as his second-in-command out of habit. These two soldiers…" Farlan refolded his arms, "they didn't like that the new guy was made Vice Commander."

"So they refused ta listen to 'im and it got 'em killed."

Farlan sighed, and shook his head, "I had experience as a leader, I should've been able to make them listen to me." He looked away from the two of them, and Eren

"Big bro told 'em to listen to ya and they didn't," Isabel turned to Eren, he leaned towards her, "plus he spent a lot of time worryin' 'bout ya."

"Me?" Eren pointed to himself, Farlan looked up, Eren was still curious but he looked so relieved at the change in topic Eren couldn't bring himself to ask questions.

Isabel grinned at him, "we were sittin' in the kitchen one time and he looked at me and asked if I thought you were eatin' enough. We hadn't seen ya in months, how would I know?"

Eren forced back a snort of laughter, Farlan gave Isabel a dirty look.

"I meant in the training corps in general, not because you'd been watching him eat."

"Yeah well ya sounded like his dad or somethin'."

Farlan rolled his eyes, "and I asked if that made you his mother and you stared at me before running off."

Eren covered his mouth to hide his smile, it was nice to see them tease each other like they'd used to and he could hear the affection in their voices when they talked.

"Yeah because of what that implied ya dumbass!"

Farlan raised an eyebrow, "you are dating this dumbass first off. Second off, at the time I was pointing out that you helped raised him, and don't act like you weren't terrified when you heard Trost was attacked."

"What does that have ta do with anything?"

Farlan grinned, "you can't tease me about worrying about Eren when you do it too."

"Yeah but I wasn't actin' like his parent," Isabel shot back, Eren turned his head back and forth as they talked.

Farlan sighed loudly, and turned back to Eren, "but comments like that lead to us teasing each other and joking about the fact we raised a kid together and that we were parents now and... we started looking at each other differently…"

Eren nodded as Farlan spoke, what he said made sense, but the blonde man had trailed off, he wasn't looking at Eren, but at the ground by their legs instead.

Isabel took Farlan's now clean plate from him, "and then this idiot started actin' funny."

"I didn't know you felt the same way!"

"Well I did, and it took ya forever to admit how ya felt."

Eren grinned as Farlan's face turned red, "shut up Is. Now, what about you Eren? What happened in training? You dodged the question earlier."

"You just want to change the subject!" Eren handed his plate to Isabel as well, she set them next to her in a stack, "you don't want to talk about your feelings."

Farlan glared at him, while Isabel laughed.

"He's got ya Far," she smiled like she used to when Eren told a good joke in the Underground, before she laughed.

Eren joined in, and then Farlan chuckled with a shake of his head.

"Fine, he does, but answer the question."

Eren looked up at them, "well… remember Armin?"

"Smart kid ya used to talk about, the one who was at the trial?"

Eren nodded at Isabel's question, "so you saw him?"

"Yes," Farlan raised an eyebrow, "and your other friend, Mikasa Ackerman."

Eren grinned sheepishly, "so I guess you know about the fact I rescued her and…"

"Eren you told us you killed two people, remember?" Farlan bumped his knee into Eren's, "I didn't know they'd join the trainees though."

"Me neither, apparently she and Armin joined because they thought it was their best option, and they wanted to see the ocean, like Armin and I had talked about." And Eren had talked about with Farlan and Isabel.

Farlan nodded, but Isabel leaned towards him, Eren leaned forward to stare her in the eyes, which made her grin.

"She seemed rather protective of ya, ya tell her ya didn't need it, when ya got me?"

"And me."

"Farlan, ya need me ta save ya too, so hush."

"That was one time!"

Eren grinned at them, "no, she, and Armin, don't know about you two, at least not that you two were the ones who saved me. I wasn't sure if it was okay to tell people, and since you two never told I guess not."

Farlan squeezed Eren's shoulder, "hey, it's okay. If you want to tell people… I'm okay with it."

"Yeah, I don't care!" Isabel added, "and I doubt Big Bro does either."

"Okay," Eren wasn't sure he was ready to tell Mikasa and Armin everything, but he started talking again, "so Mikasa took care of Armin while I was gone, and good thing too, he was always getting picked on. But while I was in training they weren't my only friends."

Eren started to tell them about sparring with Reiner and Annie, and joking around with Connie and Sasha, he left out the part where he and Sasha would steal food, only because he got distracted by a question, he told them about his fights with Jean, about how Marco would keep the peace, about how he was one of the best with the gear. Farlan and Isabel had been proud of him for that.

When he'd run out of stories to tell, Isabel and Farlan took over, neither of them seemed to mind that Eren ended up leaning on Farlan's shoulder, only half listening, half asleep, the sound of Isabel and Farlan's voices was soothing, even when they teased each other.

He was pulled back to wakefulness by Isabel shaking him.

"Eren."

"Hmm…?"

"Wake up."

"Don't wanna," Eren curled closer to Farlan, who shifted his shoulder until Eren lifted his head.

"What?"

"You should go change your clothes and get unpacked while you can, Gunter and Eld will take you to the ceremony later."

Eren blinked at Farlan slowly, not understanding, "huh?"

"Graduation ceremony. Go unpack."

"Oh!" now he scrambled to his feet, "right, I will, thanks." He waved to them before running off, maybe he could get a nap after he unpacked as well.

* * *

I'm sorry this is three days late, and I'm sorry it's short, I had to cut it in half as it is... But the fact of the matter is that it's getting too hard for me to write chapters in two weeks, so I'm going to have to make it that I update once a month.

I'm so sorry, you've all been so great about it, but hopefully I figure something out so I can get back to quicker updates.


	18. Chapter 18

Holy smokes an update!

* * *

The group headed to the cadet's graduation ceremony wasn't even out of sight before Levi called the remaining of his members of his squad to the courtyard.

Isabel noticed idly that it had yet to be cleaned, and wondered if that was why Levi had brought them here. Dealing with the death of Hanji's test subjects had taken priority this morning, and Isabel wondered how long it had taken for her big bro to realize that the courtyard had still yet to be cleaned.

Levi made a face, and looked around, "we'll clean this. Later."

Isabel looked up in surprise, if they weren't here to clean, what were they here to do?

Levi's eyes narrowed at them, "we'll be practicing our hand to hand combat."

Isabel perked up at that, she always enjoyed the chance to spar, and it was definitely preferable to cleaning, "yeah!"

Levi's gaze slid to her for a second, but he only seemed amused. "Petra and Farlan."

Isabel watched her squad mates step forward, Farlan had an advantage over Petra. Not that she wasn't good, but of the squad she wasn't one of the better fighters.

They both shed their jackets and took their places between Isabel and Auruo and Levi. Isabel watched Farlan, her eyes may have lingered slightly on his shoulders, and on his now exposed arms.

Then the fight began. Isabel could tell Farlan was holding back on Petra, not too much, but enough to draw the fight out.

Isabel was focused on the fight, on thinking about how she'd be acting in Petra's place, or in Farlan's, that she didn't immediately notice that Auruo had moved closer to her. She was in the middle of imagining how she'd punch Farlan when Auruo spoke.

"So… what were you and Church up to last night?"

Isabel gave him a dirty look, fierce enough he leaned back a little, "we were sleepin'. Or trying because ya can't be quiet even when yer sleepin'." She didn't mean that, sure Auruo snored but it wasn't that bad. She just really didn't appreciate his implications.

"I was just teasing you shorty."

"What?" Isabel hated when Auruo tried to imitate Levi, because he failed so spectacularly. She had no idea where Auruo's flawed vision of her brother had come from but did it ever rub her the wrong way.

"Well you know the rules don't you?"

"Petra's right, ya should bite yer tongue off."

Auruo smirked, and quipped, "how about you be original Magnolia?"

Isabel rolled her eyes at him, "says the guy who imitates Levi."

Their argument was cut short by Farlan pinning Petra down, Isabel noticed how Auruo stiffened a little but didn't get the chance to tease him.

Farlan helped Petra up to her feet, Isabel grinned a little as Auruo looked even more uncomfortable when Farlan helped Petra brush a bit of dirt of the back of her shirt.

Isabel moved forward, she threw her jacket at Farlan, who grumbled something but slung it over his arm anyway.

She faced Auruo, bouncing on the balls of her feet and eager to fight him.

"I'll even go easy on you," Auruo offered, and after years of being in the same squad as Isabel he really should know better.

"Yer gonna regret that," was Auruo's only warning before Isabel moved.

For all his bragging Auruo was actually very good at fighting. Isabel was faster though, and her smaller size made it easier to fight dirty. More than once she'd thrown taller opponents on the ground, as Farlan would likely complain, so she had little doubt she'd win.

Just as long as she darted out of Auruo's range. Auruo was trained to fight like all of the survey corps, there was very little difference in anyone techniques. Everyone fought the same way, unless they'd come from a situation where they'd had to learn to fight.

It was always fun to watch him get angry, as he struggled to hit her, she'd land a few blows, dodge, and watch him curse to himself as he failed to hit.

Auruo knocked her down, but Isabel twisted, and drove her elbow into his thigh. Auruo's leg gave out, long enough for Isabel to get up, and get in a good kick that left Auruo sprawling.

Aurou groaned, and Isabel huffed slightly, after a moment she offered him a hand.

Auruo accepted with a wry grin, "see, I went easy on you."

"Ya tell yerself that," Isabel replied, with a smirk, "but we all know I kicked yer ass."

Farlan was already shrugging out of his jacket when Isabel turned around, Levi nodded once, and Farlan stepped forward.

The sun shone down on them, warming Isabel's neck and shoulders, and catching in Farlan's hair, making it almost look silver.

Isabel grinned at him, "are ya going to go easy on me too?"

"Not if I want to win."

Isabel gave him a smirk, Farlan raised an eyebrow, and their fight began.

They twisted around each other, their blows never quite landing, the other always dodging or deflecting, each only landing one or two lucky blows. Years of fighting together, from the Underground to the surface had synchronized her and Farlan's movements.

Their dance wove around the courtyard, moving together, almost one fluid entity, not a step out of place, never stumbling, never falling. Her eyes never left his, she didn't have to look at him to see the blows coming, her knuckles colliding with his as their punches struck each other. As she registered the slight pain she saw the hint of it in Farlan's eyes.

She ducked and avoided Farlan's elbow, and aimed for his side, a rush of air brushing against her arm as she missed.

She took the chance to kick his leg though, knocking Farlan down. Unfortunately for her, he pulled her down with him, and they ended up rolling across the ground, until Farlan pinned her down.

"I win," he teased, Isabel scoffed at that and tried to wiggle loose. Farlan, however, wouldn't budge, he'd planted himself too well, though if asked Isabel would say he was getting fat.

Isabel huffed, and pulled a hand free to tickle him on the ribs. Farlan yelped and jerked slightly, he tried to recover, but not before Isabel pulled loose and hit him with a sucker punch to the side.

Farlan dropped, Isabel pushed him off of her, "I think I win."

Farlan just groaned, and curled up slightly, "thanks, it's not like I kept internal organs in there or anything. And even if I did I'm sure they're not important."

"Stop whining!" Isabel put her hands on hips and grinned down at him, "plus I didn't hit ya that hard."

"Oh, but you did."

Levi came over and kicked Farlan in the back, well more tapped him with his boot, "get up."

Farlan scrambled to his feet, quickly dusting his shirt off, though he was careful near where Isabel had hit. She felt a small twinge of doubt, maybe she had hit him too hard. Farlan smiled at her though, and Isabel was certain that at worst she'd bruised him.

Levi nodded once Farlan was on his feet, "Farlan with Auruo, Isabel with Petra, practice until lunch."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have shit to do, unless you want my paperwork Farlan?"

Isabel bit her lip when Farlan made a face, she turned to Petra and bounced on her feet, eager to get started.

Petra seemed eager as well, raising her fists, and her kind smile faded, now her mouth was set, eyes narrowed slightly, determined to take on Isabel.

Isabel took her own fighting stance and gave her classic smirk in return, "let's do this!"

* * *

I know it's been awhile since I updated and for that I am so, so, so sorry. Most of you have been so patient with me and I'm sorry I left you hanging.

Real life got in the way and I kind of lost my motivation to write this story and also I might have turned into Dragon Age trash somewhere along the line, but the point is I'm back.

The problem, however, is that I no longer have my multi-chapter buffer, so I can't follow a schedule any more. So updates happen when they happen. I'm going to be aiming for once a month, but since I'm about to start a new semester in school, and I have a lot of credit hours this semester, I might not be able to do this.


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